Happy’s Happy, But Not Human
Happy the elephant isn’t a person. That seeming truism was the official ruling of New York’s highest court last week, necessitated by a suit brought by the Nonhuman Rights Project aimed at freeing the...
Naso – No Small Wonder
A bracha we make several times daily has an etymological connection to the nazir, the laws for whom are included in the parshah. It lies in a word in the second pasuk of that...
The Jewish Way to Celebrate Yom Yerushalayim
Residents of Israel and Gaza dodged a bullet on Sunday (May 29) — in fact a slew of bullets, and bombs and missiles. Sunday was “Jerusalem Day,” an annual celebration that commemorates Israel’s capture...
Bamidbar – The Child Makes the Parent
The reference in the parshah (Bamidbar, 3:4) to the fact of Nadav and Avihu’s childlessness can be read as a simple explanation for why further generations of their lines are absent from the Torah’s...
There Will Be Blood
Do people not see what seems so apparent? How can the Flag March scheduled for this Sunday, Yom Yerushalayim, not lead b’derech ha-tevah, to Jewish deaths c”v at the hands of Palestinians who have...
Bechukosai – To Know What We Don’t
It would be silly to claim a “favorite” Rashi, but one comment made in rare places, including in this week’s parshah, by the author of perfectly succinct yet brilliant glosses to not only Tanach...
Why Reversal of Roe v. Wade is Welcome
Rabbi J. David Bleich [Editor’s note: It is not every day that we are privileged to get a perspective on a current issue from one of the gedolei Yisrael that deals masterfully with both...
Emor – Crime and Punishment
The first of the Torah’s two cases of imprisonment – that of the mekalel, the blasphemer, is in the parshah (Vayikra, 24:12). The second is in parshas Shelach (Bamidbar 15:34), regarding the mekoshesh eitzim,...
An Arch of Titus Moment in Greece
The story is attributed to many people. Could be that all of them are true. Someone gets out of a cab in Rome, walks over to Titus’ Arch, and shakes his fist. “Titus, Titus....
Kedoshim – Skin in a Zero-Sum Gam
Although, in the end, all tattooing is forbidden by halachah, one opinion in the Mishna (Rabi Shimon ben Yehudah in Rabi Shimon’s name) sees the prohibition as referring specifically to tattooing the name of an...