While offering the Torah to the Jewish people, He also offered it to every other nation. Was G-d kidding when He offered it to them or was He cheating?
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B'Midbar Parshah, Education, Family Life »
How to Talk So Children Will Listen
The title of this week’s essay, “How to Talk So Children Will Listen,” borrows from the well-known parenting book by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. Here, however, the lesson comes not from modern parenting literature, but from this week’s Torah portion.
The Torah presents some of the laws of the priesthood and introduces the first priests: “These are the descendants of Aaron and Moses on the day G-d spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai” (Numbers 3:1). Read the full story »
G-d’s Unconditional Love
When G-d disciplines us, the pain is real—but it is born of love. When He gives freely, we feel His kindness. When He withholds or corrects, His love is less visible—but in truth, it runs even deeper.
Your Fellow is Golden
We can look at our fellow and just see their faults, or just see their strengths. The Torah enjoins us to see our fellow as golden.
Devotion Can’t Be Selfish
Judaism calls upon us to make our lives an altar for serving G-d—not a platform for self-perfection. Our relationship with G-d is not about personal achievement or spiritual gratification. It is about humility, reverence, and service.
Post Passover Reflections: Linking The Past, Present, and Future
Passover is behind us. The question is: what lies ahead?
Yes, summer stretches out before us in all its glory (at least in this hemisphere). Plans must be made, pools opened, and the baseball season has returned. But none of that is really about Passover.
So what is?
What does Passover—now behind us—ask …
Healing the Great Divide
This week’s Torah portion speaks of the mysterious lesions that appeared on the skin of those who trafficked in gossip. Their punishment was at once severe and precise: they were cast into isolation for up to three weeks, until their affliction healed.
The Torah enumerates many forms of ritual impurity. Some …
A Matzah That Flips The Script
Just when you thought misery was bad, the Matzah teaches it can be a source of light.
What Made Moses the Redeemer?
What unique qualities did Moses have that convinced a nation of oppressed slaves that he was their redeemer?
Finding G-d in the Everyday
It is easy to find holiness in the miraculous and extraordinary. The Passover challenge is to find holiness in the ordinary, everyday moments.
Parsha Insights »
Matot Masei: The Torah View of Women
People often ask about the Torah’s view of women. A discussion about vows in this week’s Torah portion offers a surprising insight.
The Torah forbids many things such as shellfish, bacon, work during the Sabbath, collecting loans during the Sabbatical, and others. The Toral also permits many things. Yet, the Torah …
Yearly Cycle »
Sukkot: No Strangers In the Sukkah
Sharing Humanity
Have you ever experienced a bond of common humanity with a perfect stranger? One moment you were a stranger the next moment you were one, caring as much about what happened to him as to yourself. Under ordinary circumstances this common bond doesn’t surface, but under extreme circumstances it …
Concepts »
D’varim : Absolute Faith
The Untenable Dilemma
On a trip to Israel in November of 2001, I asked a number of Israelis to share their thoughts on how the Intafada might be quelled. Their response was, “There is no resolution. The State of Israel will continue to exist and so will the Intafada. Somehow we …
Rabbi’s Desk »
What Can We Do?
These past two days have been the most difficult for our people in the last fifty years. It was Simchat Torah, a time for rejoicing, yet it was a time of horror. Nearly a thousand members of our family were brutally murdered, more than a hundred were taken hostage, and …
