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 Ki Seitzei – We’re All the “Beautiful Woman”
It’s edifying to compare the larger world’s celebrations of its various New Years and the Jewish celebration of Rosh Hashanah. The former is characterized by revelry, drunkenness and, hat tip to Auld Lang Syne,...
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...
My Unorthodox 5781
The name Julia Haart evokes different reactions in our community – all negative. Haart is the Kardashian-wannabe-star of the Netflix series about walking out of the orthodox world to reinvent herself as a successful...
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 Ekev – Does Heaven Play Favorites? (and more)
Well, does He or doesn’t He? Hashem, that is. Does he show special favor to some or not? That question is placed by Rabbi Ami or Rabbi Asi (Berachos 20b) in the mouths of...
Ben and Jerry’s: Not Your Plain-Vanilla Crisis
Impulse shopping for ice cream, as our scales will testify, is hardly uncommon. Maybe in this instance it was not so common, because I don’t really eat ice cream. Yet I found myself drawn...
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...
Parshas Matos: Being There
At first read, the tribes of Gad, Reuvein and half of Menashe seem to be making an entirely unreasonable request of Moshe: Let us remain on the east side of the Jordan River, where...