Beginner’s Guide to Hassidut
For Parashat Mishpatim Immediately following the momentous event of Mount Sinai, the Israelites are handed a long list of laws and regulations, detailed in Parashat Mishpatim. Surprisingly, these laws have very little to do with rituals, sacrifices, or spirituality. Rather, they deal with financial and physical damages, and with the responsibilities of borrowers and renters. […]
Law of Responsibility
שָׁלֹ֣שׁ רְגָלִ֔ים תָּחֹ֥ג לִ֖י בַּשָּׁנָֽה – You shall celebrate three pilgrimage holidays a year (Ex. 23:14) We all know the three pilgrimage holidays, Pesah, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Do we also know how Shavuot differs from the other two? Well, to begin with, Shavuot has no set day in the Torah, but is rather celebrated fifty […]
Noah – Parasha Pointers
Noah means comfortable. In 5:29 his father names him so with the hope the new child will bring comfort, yet in 6:6 and in 6:7 the verb נחם, which means to comfort, is used in its other meaning – to regret. Is there a connection here? Could it be that Noah was too comfortable with […]
Contemporary Justice
For Parashat Shofetim Halakha, the Jewish legal system, is a labyrinthian structure of arguments and counter-arguments, with hundreds of rabbis in each generation opining on numerous matters, and only few rising to the status of authority recognized by all. Tens of thousands of volumes published and probably a thousand others lost to persecution, book-burning, and […]
Holy Romance
וַיַּ֗עַשׂ אֵ֚ת הַכִּיּ֣וֹר נְחֹ֔שֶׁת וְאֵ֖ת כַּנּ֣וֹ נְחֹ֑שֶׁת בְּמַרְאֹת֙ הַצֹּ֣בְאֹ֔ת אֲשֶׁ֣ר צָֽבְא֔וּ פֶּ֖תַח אֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵֽד: This seemingly trivial detail, not included in God’s instructions to the builders of the tabernacle, but rather an extemporaneous decision of Moses, directs us towards a very serious problem in marital relationships, that of spouses who grow tired or bored of […]
VaYera – Parasha Pointers
In his commentary, both on this and on the previous Parasha, Rashi quotes Midrashim which suggest that Avraham questioned the importance of the circumcision and whether it is necessary. There is nothing in the text to support it, and it would be safe to assume that the authors of the Midrash responded to a contemporary […]
Evolution of Ethics
The first chapters of Leviticus, though at first sight seem to suggest no more than a catalog list of sacrifices, are actually a guide to life and to the intention of the Giver of the Law. We have to zoom out of the detailed list of the different categories, the animals or substances used for […]
The Eight Commandments
The Torah refers to the content of the Tablets of the Law, given to Moshe on Mount Sinai, not as the Ten Commandments, but rather as עשרת הדברים – the Ten Concepts (Ex. 34:28; Det. 4:13; 10:4). That is because the first and the last of the ten concepts cannot be counted as commandments, hence […]
Torah: Does it Make Sense?
Do you have to understand the laws of the Torah to be able to observe them? This is not a new question. It was probably born at the same moment the laws of the Torah were introduced to the Israelites for the first time, but it has gained prominence in Talmudic times, as scholars were […]
Beware of Hypocrites
With the story of Korah, the war against Moshe and the ingratitude expressed by the people receive new dimensions. Moshe’s leadership has been challenged before, but this time he was facing a well-organized mutiny, with those at the helm taking aim at him personally. It must have been very difficult for Moshe, who put his […]