Last Shabbat we read: “You who hold fast to the Lord your God, are all alive today”. We recite this verse every time the Torah is read publicly, which implies that “holding fast” to God is expressed first and foremost by internalizing the words of the Torah and living by its commandments. Cleaving to God […]
On Tuesday of this week we observed the anniversary of the destruction of the Temples. Why did Tish’a Be-’Av fall on a Tuesday this year? The answer is that Tish’ah Be-’Av always falls on the same day of the week as seder night at the beginning of Passover. How are those two observances connected? One […]
“How can I bear unaided the trouble of you, and the burden, and the bickering!” (Devarim 1:12) The Torah teaches us: if it was difficult for Moshe — “whom the Lord singled out, face to face” (34:10) — to lead the people, then all the more so, every leader must study the solution suggested by […]
It is not in the heavens (Deteronomy 30:12) This biblical verse makes a radical claim: divine wisdom is available to all of us. We do not need heroic feats in order to make God’s word accessible. For the sages of the Talmud the verse came to mean that the authority of interpreting the Torah resides […]
The Torah portion, Balak, which we read this past Shabbat, is among the most amazing in the Torah: Bil’am emerges, a prophet not of the Israelite people, and pronounces deeply true things about us. He sees the people Israel in the desert, and ostensibly delivering a curse, he blesses: How good are your tents, Jacob, […]
Balak, King of Mo‘av, is fearful of the Israelites and asks Bila‘am the sorcerer to curse them, for he believes this is the only way to defeat them in battle. He is afraid and therefore chooses to curse and belittle. In contrast, God transforms the curse into a blessing, for the Holy One knows only […]
This week marked 9 months since October 7th. Nine months of war. Nine months during which 120 of our brothers and sisters have been held hostage in Gaza. Nine months of deep crisis. The Hebrew word for “crisis” is מַשְׁבֵּר / mashber* and can take on additional meanings. Thus wrote Moshe Ibn Ezra (11th century […]
Numbers Chapter 18 is the main Torah source of the concept of gifts to the Priesthood as understood by the Rabbis. Midrashim offer different explanations: Yalkut Shimoni understands that the Priests received them as reward for Aaron’s efforts to save the Israelites from the sin of the golden calf. Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer understands the gifts […]
In the wilderness of Paran the sin of the spies took place — a transgression so grave that an entire generation was condemned to die in the wilderness. A Talmudic legend (b. Shabbat 89a-b) interprets the several names in the Torah for that wilderness. On the name “the wilderness of Paran” the Talmud explains: “because […]
In Parashat Beha‘alotekha, the seven-branched menorah is lit for the first time. Note the directions: “When you raise up the lamps, toward the front of the lampstand let the seven lamps give light.” Only when we lift up the lamps, which are the receptacles of the light, will “the seven lamps give light.” The menorah […]