Parshas Vaeschanan/Nachamu – Good Grief
One thousand, nine hundred and ninety-five years ago, the Bais HaMikdash was destroyed. We have been grieving for a long time. I recently discovered a psychiatric syndrome known as Prolonged Grief Disorder. The symptoms of this condition include: Feeling as though part of you has died. A sense of disbelief about the death. Avoidance of […]
Parshat Matos-Masei – Natural Intelligence
Moshe instructs the nation to wage a battle against the Midianites taking vengeance for their having incited the people to immorality which led to a plague that took 24,000 lives. As they return from their mission, Moshe — in one of the few moments he frothed with anger — takes them to task for having […]
Parshas Pinchas – Man Up!
This week the Torah records how the daughters of Tzelafchad stood up for their rights in requesting a right to inherit their deceased father’s share in the Land of Israel, in the absence of a male heir. They succeed in securing it, meriting the rare honor of ‘adding a portion to the Torah’. We are […]
Parshas Chukas/Balak – Open Your Eyes
With the death of Miriam, the miraculous well that traveled with the Children of Israel and provided them abundant and sweet water, suddenly ceased to flow. The people are stunned and immediately gather and protest to Moshe. “If only we had perished as our brethren perished before G-d! Why have you brought the congregation of […]
Parshas Korach – Go With the Flow!
Moshe, seeking to avoid open conflict summons Dasan and Aviram. They decline, refusing to go up. They then brazenly castigate Moshe saying, “Is it not enough that you have brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to cause us to die in the Wilderness, yet you seek to dominate us, even […]
Parshas Shelach – Move Your Carcass
Due to the failure of the entire generation of adults over the age of twenty in succumbing to the negative influence of the spies, they were condemned to death in the Wilderness, delaying the entry into the Land for nearly thirty-nine years. The Torah in portraying their destined deaths over that period uses a rather […]
Parshas Shelach – Move Your Carcass
Due to the failure of the entire generation of adults over the age of twenty in succumbing to the negative influence of the spies, they were condemned to death in the Wilderness, delaying the entry into the Land for nearly thirty-nine years. The Torah in portraying their destined deaths over that period uses a rather […]
Parshas Behaalosecha: Where Are Your Candlesticks?
Exactly seventy-eight years, shortly after the end of World War II, a major gathering of the full spectrum of Torah observant rabbinic leadership in Israel met in the Jascha Heifetz Convention Hall in Tel Aviv to strategize how to restore the enormous loss of Torah scholarship and devotion that transpired in that terrible upheaval of […]
Parshas Behaalosecha: Where Are Your Candlesticks?
Exactly seventy-eight years, shortly after the end of World War II, a major gathering of the full spectrum of Torah observant rabbinic leadership in Israel met in the Jascha Heifetz Convention Hall in Tel Aviv to strategize how to restore the enormous loss of Torah scholarship and devotion that transpired in that terrible upheaval of […]
Hey There! Someone is Talking to You!
After the participation of all the tribes in the inauguration of the Tabernacle, the Torah tells of Moshe’s entry into it to hear the word of G-d. Several perplexing details regarding the way G-d communicated His words are enumerated. Firstly, is the fact that the voice emanated from between the two cherubim atop the ark […]