Chanukah is the only festival that was initiated after the Bible was already canonized. As such, it needs to be explained without the benefit of a Biblical reference. Passover and the other festivals are mentioned in the Torah and the Purim story is discussed in the Book of Esther but Chanukah is only mentioned by […]
Messages from 2016
In this week’s Torah portion, we read the story of Joseph, who was suffered the trauma of being abducted by his own brothers and sold into slavery. He was taken to a foreign environment (Egypt) and imprisoned there. How did he retain his sanity and not lose hope? What was the secret of his resilience? […]
One of the most famous sibling rivalries in the Torah is that of Yaakov (Jacob) and Eisav (Esau). Eisav and his army have finally caught up with Yaakov and fear is in the midst. …We came to your brother, to Esau, and he is heading toward you with four hundred men. And Jacob became very […]
Leah and Rachael are two Matriarchs central to the Jewish narrative. Leah had one child after another but Rachel remained barren. When she finally did have a child, it was a son and she named him Joseph (Yosef), from the Hebrew asaf, “gathered in.” She conceived and bore a son, and said, ‘G-d has gathered […]
Over the centuries many people have debated the morality of the Biblical story of Jacob taking the blessings of the birthright from his brother, Eisav. Destiny had it that Jacob was supposed to receive the blessings from Isaac, his father, and ultimately the blessing came about in a circuitous way. Why did it have to […]
One of the most striking features about Judaism in comparison with, say, Christianity or Islam, is that it is impossible to answer the following question: Who is the central character of the drama of faith? In both of the other Abrahamic monotheisms the answer is obvious. In Judaism, it is anything but. Is it Abraham, […]
Rav Yisrael Salanter (1810-1883), founder of the Mussar (personal growth through rigorous self-introspection) movement, was once invited to the home of a distinguished community leader for a meal. The host noticed that when his guest did the ritual hand washing before eating bread, the esteemed Rabbi only washed his fingers, but not his entire hand. […]
This week’s Parsha introduces us to the first Jew, Abraham. During one of his early travels, a seemingly insignificant detail is given: And from there he relocated to the mountain, east of Bethel and pitched his tent there… (12:8) The Torah is not a history book; it records significant details with the purpose of giving […]
What does it take to survive? Although Dianna Ross famously wrote, “Oh no not I, I will survive/For as long as I know how to love, I know I’ll stay alive,” love is not a miracle elixir that can cure terminal illness or prevent national tragedy. A few thousand years ago, G-d saw that humanity […]
A Mussar Shmooze is a talk given with the intent of reaching the heart and rousing emotion. It became an effective tool in the Mussar movement, an undertaking that educated students in a program of self-knowledge, self-growth and learning how to fulfill one’s potential. Although the Mussar movement began in the 19th century, the first […]
And the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab…. (34:8) The men mourned when Moses died but when his older brother, Aaron, died sometime before that, the entire house of Israel cried over his loss, then, everyone, both men and women, mourned his loss. This Parsha occupies itself with the praise […]
This week’s Parsha contains the poetic parting words of Moses: Listen heavens and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth! (32:1) This verse begins Moses’ farewell song to the People by calling upon the heaven and earth to be witnesses to what he will be saying. He asks the people […]
Write this song for yourselves… (31:19) Jewish Trivia Question: What is the last mitzvah in the Torah? The last of the 613 mitzvos is the obligation to write a Sefer Torah (Torah scroll). Imagine if there would be a law in the United States that every citizen had to write a copy of the constitution. […]
When penicillin was first discovered, only small amounts were available. At that time, the following issue was addressed in halacha (Jewish law): What should a doctor do if he has only a single dose of penicillin and a number of patients who need it? How should he decide to which patient it should be administered? […]
This week’s Torah portion contains rebuke and dreadful consequences for the Jewish community if we allow Jews to abandon their Judaism. After stating the terrible events that will occur, the rebuke closes by mentioning that the ultimate catalyst for these bad things is “as the result of your not having served HaShem, your G-d, with […]
When you will go out to war against your enemies… (Deut. 21:10) This week’s portion begins with various laws concerning warfare. However, our sages tell us that the opening verse hints at another type of war; the war we have with our internal selves. In Judaism it’s called the Yetzer Hara (the evil inclination), the […]
This week’s Torah portion begins with a directive for judges to be scrupulous in upholding the law. The Torah expresses this mandate in a peculiar way. Justice, justice you shall pursue so that you will live and take possession of the land that G-d… gives you (ibid.16:20) The discerning reader will be bothered by the […]
The Torah states that because Jews are children of G-d (Deuteronomy 14, 1), we are forbidden to excessively mourn the loss of a parent by doing such things as cutting one’s self or tearing out the hair on one’s head and making a bald spot. The commentary of Chizkuni (13th century) explains that when a […]
Who feeds you manna in the wilderness, which your forefathers did not know, in order to afflict you and in order to test you; to do good for you in your end? (ibid. 8:16) Question: Why is manna-which fell daily-called an affliction and a test? Ancient Jewish wisdom says that the manna was Heavenly food; […]
You shall love Hashem, your G-d, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your resources. (6:5) The verse above informs the reader that there is a mitzvah to love G-d. A theological difficulty arises from it: How can love be an obligation? Love is a feeling; either you have it or […]
Moses: I cannot carry you alone…you are today as the stars of the heavens in abundance. (Deuteronomy 1:9-10) Why couldn’t Moses carry the Jewish nation? The next verse explains, “G-d has multiplied you, and, behold, you are today as the stars of heavens…” Why did Moses use stars as the metaphor and not sand on […]
Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Matot-Masay (Numbers 30-36) Forks Over Knives; Voices and Choices …but it must be purified with purifying waters. (31:23) One of the cryptic aspects of Jewish observance is the mikvah, a ritual body of collected rainwater or a natural spring. It is used on various occasions having to do with a change […]
The main character in the beginning of this week’ Torah portion is Pinchas, who meted out punishment of a licentious act. Concerning Pinchas, G-d said “Pinchas avenged My vengeance…”(ibid 25:11). According to the commentary of Rashi he did what G-d would have had to do. As a result, Pinchas was rewarded by having his stature […]
The 20th century was the bloodiest in all of human history and serves as testimony that two beloved theories about humanity are wrong. These ideas emanated a few hundred years ago during the Enlightenment and remain popular in secular humanist ideology. One is the idea that all moral questions, all issues of right and wrong, […]
Sichon, the king of the Amorite nation did not let the Jewish people pass through his borders on their way to the Land of Israel. Instead, he and his nation came out to wage war against them. The Jews were victorious and they temporarily settled in his city of Cheshbon. The poets of the time […]
One Sentence Synopsis of this week’s Torah portion: A man named Korach convinced 250 men to join him in challenging Moses’ leadership and accuses him of placing his (Moses’) own interests before the rest of the people [due to his choice of his brother, Aaron, as Kohen Gadol (High Priest)]. The Almighty commands Moses to […]
Imagine getting a phone call from your a beloved aunt who tells you she is sending a gift. When it arrives, you call the bomb squad to make sure it is safe. This scenario seems absurd but something even more ludicrous happened to the Jews while they were traveling in the desert. They sent twelve […]
This week the Torah tells us that the Children of Israel once again complained; they wanted meat in the desert. They recalled what they considered a better time in a better place–Egypt! Like many of us who are discontented with the world we live in, they spoke about the good old days. The rabble that […]
(There is a new feature at the end of this dvar Torah. It is a short prayer and meditation suggestion on based on the dvar Torah.) One of the most controversial topics in the Torah is the Sotah, the suspected adulteress. Adultery is an equal opportunity misdeed; both men and women are commanded not to […]
When the cycle for the weekly Torah readings was established centuries ago, this week’s Parsha was designated specifically to be read this Shabbos. The reading is from the first few chapters of the Torah’s forth book, Numbers and always proceeds the holiday of Shavuos. What connection is there between this week’s Parsha and Shavuos, the […]