Give Earth a Break
גאולה תתנו לארץ The term Tree Hugger is not usually associated with observant Jews, which is truly hurtful and unfair, because we hug a tree at least four times a week. We do it, religiously, on Mondays and Thursdays, Shabbat mornings and afternoons. We gather around our tree, touch it, kiss it and then sit […]
Dvar Torah for Phinehas
Who was Phineas, after whom our Parasha is named? He was the grandson of Aaron the High Priest, who took action when everyone else was paralyzed with disbelief and confusion. At the end of the previous Parasha we read of Zimri, the Israelite man who brought a Midianite woman with him to the Tabernacle. While […]
Restoring Leadership
The Derekh. It is very important to be on it. If, God forbid, someone is off it, his parents will be the talk of town. Not, God forbid, publicly. Behind closed doors, by the (kosher) water cooler, in hushed conversations during the Torah reading in shul: “have you heard? So and so’s (son; daughter; the […]
The Torah’s Disability Act
אִ֣ישׁ… אֲשֶׁ֨ר יִהְיֶ֥ה בוֹ֙ מ֔וּם, לֹ֣א יִקְרַ֔ב לְהַקְרִ֖יב לֶ֥חֶם אֱלֹהָֽיו – This statement of the Torah, that a man who is not physically wholesome is not allowed to serve at the temple and offer sacrifices, has always been for me a pet peeve, and the attempts of the commentators to explain it did not help […]
Wrestling a Piece of Canaan
The Burial of Sara [23:1] Sara lived a hundred years, and twenty years, and seven years. The repetition of the word “years” was interpreted by the Midrash as alluding to special quality traits of Sara. However, the same formula is used regarding Avraham (25:7), and Ishmael (25:17). It would have probably been used for Yitzhak […]
Be Unique – For I Am!
דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־כָּל־עֲדַ֧ת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל וְאָמַרְתָּ֥ אֲלֵהֶ֖ם קְדֹשִׁ֣ים תִּהְי֑וּ כִּ֣י קָד֔וֹשׁ אֲנִ֖י יְיָ אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them: You shall be holy; for I YHWH your God, am holy. The word קדוש is traditionally translated as holy. The more meticulous commentators explain that קדוש means separate, designated, […]
Loving Leah
By Rabbi Haim Ovadia We tend to classify many of the familial conflicts of Genesis under the rubric Sibling Rivalry. The term has become an idiom we feel comfortable with, a nice compact packet which describes a painful phenomenon. It conjures the image of a battle, not weapon-wielding, lethal one, but more a ritual. It […]
Embracing Life
At first sight the laws of Nazir, detailed in Parashat Nasso, seem to suggest that the Torah encourages people to take upon themselves vows of abstinence. A closer, contextual reading, makes it clear that the life of a hermit, away from society and from the world’s bounty, is not the Torah’s idea of a perfect […]
What Did Ham Do?
Noah, the man of the land, started [rebuilding after the flood] by planting a vineyard. He drank of the wine, became inebriated, and exposed himself naked in his tent. Ham, Canaan’s father, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside the tent. Shem and Yephet took the robe on their shoulders, walked backwards […]
On Trust and Leadership
Why the Book of Numbers is not about numbers What’s in a name? The book of BeMidbar suffers of somewhat of an identity crisis. It is easy to determine the identity of the other books of the Torah. Genesis is about the creation and the life of the forefathers, Exodus is about the exodus and […]