Putin, Explained
It couldn’t be simpler. Putin is a despotic tyrant without conscience, who seized upon perceived Western weakness to enlarge his empire. All true – but there is much more than that. As the saying...
Parshad Pekudei – Disoriented
The pair of verbs describing Moshe’s placing of the luchos, the second set of tablets he received at Sinai, in the aron, or ark, to be placed in the Mishkan, is unusual: Vayikach. Vayiten,...
The Vehemence Virus
You never know what sets some people off. Back in 2015, when I dared to write that the U.S. remaining as a partner in the Iran Deal might be better than what might happen...
Vayakhel – The Muddle of Our Motives
A miscalculation made by the Nesi’im, or tribal leaders, during the collections made in the desert for the building of the Mishkan resulted in the word “Nesi’im” being written in a diminished form –...
Blinded to One’s Own Bias
Talk about tone-deaf. A teaser for an “investigative” article by “The Journal News,” which serves several New York counties and whose online moniker is “Lohud,” consisted of the image of a clenched puppetmaster’s hand...
Parshas Ki Sisa – 13+13=1
Beginning with Hashem’s name stated twice, the “thirteen middos” (“aspects” or “attributes”) of Hashem’s compassion and love are sourced in our parsha. The formula was taught to Moshe Rabbeinu by Hashem Himself after the...
Tetzaveh — Flour and Oil in the Afternoon
One of the two places in the Torah that mandate the offering of an olas tamid twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, is in our parsha (Shemos 29:39)....
Terumah – Space, Matter and Meaningfulness
The building of the Mishkan, according to a beraisa in Middos and the Sefer Habahir, mirrors the creation of the world. Both accounts in the Torah, in fact, evidence parallel wordings. Much noted by...
Mishpatim – Mundanity is a Myth
What an abrupt transition, from the miracles and wonders of the earlier parshios of Sefer Shemos to this week’s list of prosaic, painstaking laws. But, just as every letter in the Torah is necessary...
Exploiting a Crisis for One’s Own Agenda
As we read about the shocking hostage situation at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, TX, Rabbi Seth Farber used the event as an opportunity to yet again attack the Rabbanut Ha-Rashit in Times of...