Parshas Bishalach – The Measure of a Mohn
One of the strangest pesukim in the Torah is the one that ends the account of the mohn. After stating that “the Bnei Yisrael ate the mohn for forty years, until they came to...
A ChatCPT User’s Guide to the Universe
By Rabbi Akiva Adlerstein November 30, 2022 saw the release of Chat GPT, an artificial intelligence platform with mind-blowing capabilities, now available for free to the general public. With it, the once purely theoretical...
Parshas Bo – Choosing a Channel
Since free will is the fundamental element of the human being that places him in a realm apart from the rest of Creation, the question of how Hashem could “harden the heart” of...
Hillel Halkin’s Sour Grapes
Wine grapes come in distinct varieties. There is no reason that sour grapes should not do the same. Hillel Halkin has uncorked his style of their juice with a splash in The Jewish Review...
Chutzpah or Incompetence?
Or maybe just cluelessness. In any event, UTJ’s proposed legislation to create a recognized “therapist” designation to seminary girls after taking a few courses in art or play therapy is a terrible idea. A...
Vo’eira – Nobody Will Get Stoned
Slight divergences between the Torah’s words or phrases and Targum Onkelos’ rendering of them are often laden with meaning. One such seemingly minor change is in the Targum’s translation of Moshe’s words: “Were...
Shemos – Best-Laid Plans
The account of Moshe’s being placed in the river, discovered by bas Par’oh and raised in royal surroundings would seem to be of no import regarding the main narrative of Shemos – Moshe’s...
Vayechi – In Praise of Diaspora
Eretz Yisrael is the desideratum to which the Torah’s entire narrative leads. From Hashem’s promising the Land to Avraham’s descendants, to our ancestors’ exodus from Mitzrayim and years of wandering in the desert, the...
Vayigash — No Fair
Imagine the emotions of Yosef’s brothers at the start of the parsha. They have been grievously treated by Tzafnas Pa’ene’ach, the Egyptian king’s viceroy, who accused them falsely of being spies, then insisted that...
“Give Me Yavneh and Its Sages”
Realistic Orthodox Judaism Saves by Accommodation (Another Reply to Ben Shapiro’s article in the Jewish Press) by Rabbi Michael J. Broyde This article is an expanded and footnoted version of an article published in...