An Abundance of Good
When we come to this week's reading, I always remember the way my teacher Rabbi Asher Rubenstein zt"l spoke about the poor person bringing his first fruits to the Temple. The Torah obligates a person to be happy. It is part of the Commandment to bring the First...
Helping Your Brother
In this week's reading, the Torah commands us to help each other, and to avoid pain even to animals: "You shall not see the donkey of your brother or his ox falling on the path, yet lift your eyes from them; you shall surely right it with him." [22: 4] It's not just a...
Division, Not Discord
Someone once asked Rabbi Yisrael M. Kagan zt”l, the Chofetz Chaim, why the observant Jewish world was so divided. Why are there Chassidim and non-Chassidim, and even among Chassidim there are all different types. Some focus more on study, some more on prayer; some are mostly silent while others sing and dance.
The Foundation of Judaism
What is it about this story, that no one tried to duplicate it? Doesn’t it make more sense to start a new religion by saying that G-d came back to tell us the new way? And for that matter… how did the Torah know and declare with full confidence that although the Jews came to believe the story as told in our Torah, no one would ever get a group of people to believe a new version of this story, ever again?
Criticizing Israel
The last book of the Torah, Book of Devarim, is called "Deuteronomy" in English -- an Old English translation of Deuteronomium, Latin for "Second Law." G-d tells Moshe to record what Moshe himself said to Israel, which includes further discussion and elaboration of...
The Myth of 40 Years of Wandering
As a result of the Nation of Israel's lack of trust, their belief (based upon the report of the spies) that they could not conquer Cana'an and would die trying, G-d said the entire generation of the desert would remain just that: rather than being the generation that...
