Driving Like It’s Rosh Hashanah
Some Jews attend shul only on the Yamim Nora’aim or for a yahrtzeit. They “compartmentalize” their Judaism. It’s called on only for special occasions. And yet, as always, there’s more to be gained by...
Category: Judaism
Parshas Vayeilech — Prepared to Not Progress
Children brought to shul need to be controlled by their parents, of course. They mustn’t be permitted to disturb those gathered there to daven. But, at least from an age when they can be...
Two Articles
A piece I wrote for Religion News Service about Orthodox efforts to help beleaguered people around the world was picked up by the Washington Post, and can be read here or here. And my...
Parshas Nitzavim – The Role of Failure
Reflecting the time of year when we read Nitzavim, before the “Days of Awe,” the parshah’s major themes are sin and repentance. And while much of Nitzavim concerns potential punishments for sin, there is...
The Antisemitic Uneducated Jew
What groups like J Street, IfNotNow & Jewish Voice for Peace share in common is an unwillingness to seriously engage with Jewish history, Jewish ideas & Jewish texts. In short, they have little connection to anything authentically Jewish.
Parshas Ki Savo – Happiness Doesn’t Happen
What is arguably the most shocking pasuk in the entire Torah is in this week’s parshah. No, it’s not any of the descriptions of horrors in the portion of the parshah we call the...
Parshas Shoftim – We’re All In This Together
Why, of course the elders of the nearest city didn’t kill the man! So what is the meaning — in the case of a person found murdered on the road, where the ritual of...
Parshas Re’ei — What’s With the Wealth?
Affluence isn’t something extolled by the Torah. In Judaism wealth is neither a praiseworthy aspiration nor a meaningful achievement. Which makes Rabbi Yochanan’s homiletic interpretation of the Torah’s words “A tithe shall you tithe...
Parshas Vo’eschanan: Living Martyrdom
The Jewish credo, “the Shema,” declares Moshe’s directive to love Hashem “with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your resources” (Devarim 6:5). And, famously, Chazal understand “all your soul” as...
Parshas Devarim: Timeless
Sefer Devarim begins with Moshe Rabbeinu’s recounting of the Jewish People’s history since the exodus from Egypt, through the years of desert-wandering. And our communal reading of the beginning of the sefer coincides yearly...
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