Reasonable Repetition
Sometimes, the Torah strikes us as repetitive. We are forced to wonder why the Torah felt it necessary to tell us the same thing twice, and to look more deeply to determine what we learn from the retelling. Nowhere is this more striking than the story of Eliezer going...
Coming to Terms
The Torah tells us that after the birth of Yitzchak, “the child grew and was weaned, and Avraham made a great banquet on the day that Yitzchak was weaned” [Genesis 21:8]. Rashi explains that what made the banquet “great” was the presence of the great men of the...
The Merits of our Forefathers
In our parsha (reading), Hashem tells our forefather, “do not fear, Avram, I will shield you, your reward is very great” [15:1]. And Avram replies in the following verse, “Hashem, what will you give me, and I go childless…” [This was before Avraham and Sarah were...
Happy Yom Kippur
A few days ago, someone wished me a happy holiday. Given that the upcoming holiday is Yom Kippur, the somber, serious, even frightening Day of Atonement, my first, unshared thought was that that wasn’t really the appropriate greeting for the occasion. But I thought...
Torah Cannot Be Secret
When I was in college, there was a woman I knew who was Jewish, but who never participated in Jewish activities. She told me at one point that on Yom Kippur, her father would go into his study, close the door, and read, or whatever else it might be that he did. He...
A World Created for Me
"In compensation for your failure to [lit. that you did not] serve HaShem your G-d with joy and with happiness of heart, from an abundance of all.” [Deut. 28:47] There are terrible calamities prophesied in this week’s reading. The Torah tells us why these tragedies...
Fund the Police
One of the most cited phrases in the Torah is found in the first sentences of this week’s reading: “justice, justice shall you pursue” [Deut. 16:20]. But this is not, despite what you may have read elsewhere, a license for each individual to elevate his or her own...
Commander and Commanded
In this week’s reading, we find the second, longest paragraph of the Shema [Deut. 11:13-21], the daily reading in which Jews commit to follow G-d and His Commandments. The first section, with Shema itself [6:5-9], was part of our reading last week. The Mishnah...
Take it from Truman
The Medrash tells us that Bilaam was a prophet, that Hashem, G-d, spoke with him. No one, however, came closer to Hashem thanks to hearing Bilaam’s prophecy. All the Jewish prophets, and of course Moshe himself, caused people to turn to Hashem, but Bilaam was an utter...
No Parallel
“And Korach the son of Yitzhar, the son of K’has, the son of Levi, and Dasan and Aviram the sons of Eliav, and On the son of Peles, the sons of Reuven, took [themselves to the side]; and they rose up against Moshe…” [16:1-2] The Mishnah in the Chapters of the Fathers...
Yosef’s Extra Punishment
This week we read about the tragic expedition of the spies into the Land of Israel. They returned with a bad report, briefly convincing the Israelites that they would be unable to enter their land. This is why the generation that left Egypt was not allowed to enter...
Leadership Is Not About Me
In this week's reading, G-d tells Moshe to assemble 70 of the Elders of Israel, for them to be prophets to the people [see Num. 11:16-17 and 24-29]. They would form the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Rabbinic Court. There were 12 tribes, and the division was to be as equal as...
