Daunting or Doable?
It is not in Heaven, such that one could say ‘who will go up to Heaven and take it for us’… For this matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it” [30:12, 14]. At first glance Torah observance can seem daunting, filled with myriad rules and regulations governing every aspect of life.
We Don’t Know the Story
In this week's reading, we are told "you shall be 'simple' with Hashem your G-d" [Deut. 18:13]. As you might suspect, "simple" is a very incomplete translation of "Tamim," which also means pure and unsullied. Our forefather Yaakov is called "a simple man, dwelling in...
An Active Response to Tragedy
The Ninth of Av, which this year begins on Monday evening, is a national day of mourning for the Jewish people. 3329 years ago, we mourned needlessly on this day, responding to the report of the spies that we would be unable to overcome the Canaanites and move into...
Transfer of Leadership
What grew Jewish communities in America was not the Rabbi of the synagogue, but those who built day schools to educate the next Jewish generation, as Moshe taught Yehoshua. Giving our children a strong Jewish education remains the singular way that we preserve a Jewish future.
You Couldn’t Pay Me to Do the Impossible
Someone shared with me a fascinating story this morning (from the sefer "MiShulchan Gavohah"). The Brisker Rav, Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Halevi Soloveitchik, served as Rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva of Brisk (Brest, Belarus) prior to the Holocaust, under the hostile Communist...
The Limits of Human Comprehension
This week's reading begins with the Commandment to prepare a red heifer for a special purification ritual. The calf was slaughtered and burned and its ashes mixed with water. Any person who came into contact with a dead person had to undergo a seven-day purification...
The Eye of the Beholder
When Moshe sent the spies into the Land of Israel, he did not anticipate two wildly disparate reports regarding what they would find. An argument breaks out between the spies upon their return: only two of them, Kalev and Yehoshua (Joshua), say that Israel should...
Entering Fifty Gates
When G-d begins to speak to the Jews at Mount Sinai, He says, "I am Hashem your G-d, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt." Commentaries ask, why is the Exodus from Egypt important in this context? If G-d is trying to establish His Identity and explain why Israel...
Suicide Pact
Either the Author of the Torah knew what He was doing, or He wanted to starve the Jews. The Torah Commands the Jews to observe a "Sabbatical of the Earth," a full year in which farming is prohibited. No planting means no reaping, no crops to sell. Now, you might think...
More than a Bonfire
In Judaism, our holidays are never mere celebrations or commemorations — they are opportunities for spiritual growth. In the case of Lag B'Omer, there are two key lessons for all of us, found in the two stories behind this rabbinic holiday. Lag B'Omer gets its name...
Impossible to Know… But Known
In this week’s reading, the Torah clearly lays out for us the animals, fish and poultry permitted under Jewish Law. In the course of doing so, the Torah makes a statement that — were it made by a human being — would have been beyond foolhardy.
The Laban Brand of Hate
What is the connection of "Arami Oved Avi" — "An Aramean destroyed my father" — to the Haggadah? The Haggadah says that "Pharaoh decreed only against the males, but Laban tried to uproot everything." Again, why connect the two? The goal of the Haggadah is to tell...
