Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Vayetze: G-d loves, and demands

G-d is our father… and our lawgiver.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Toldot: What was Rivkah thinking?

Even if she could fool Yitzchak, there's no fooling G-d.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch: Chayei Sarah

Did Avraham have a daughter?

If he did, what happened to her?

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Vayera: The first act of the first Jew

Avraham rushed to serve pagan guests.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch:

Lech Lecha: Sarah’s miscalculation

Avraham’s spirit elevated Hagar into an entirely different person.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Noach: Can ‘man’ mean ‘woman’?

A functioning society is impossible without objective language.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Bereishit: G-d’s ‘personality’

Imparting pure philosophical truth isn’t the Torah’s primary aim.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

V’zot Habrachah: Exiting the stage

We all have a role to play in the divine plan.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Haazinu: Looking for an excuse

Denying religious truth is often convenient.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Nitzavim-Vayelech: A tide that doesn’t raise all boats

A Jew can't ride on the coattails of the righteous.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch on Ki Tavo:

You can’t pick and choose

One category of sin isn’t “better” than another.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Ki Tetze: Female power

The fate of a nation rests on its mothers.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Shoftim: What’s wrong with magic?

Our actions – not “black arts” – determine our future.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Re’eh: Between the head and the heart

Truth, not feelings, must govern our actions.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Ekev: G-d provides

Supporting a family is no excuse for violating the Torah’s commands.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch:

Vaetchanan: Black and white

Truth isn’t equivocal, and we dare not present it as such.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Devarim: Intelligence is overrated - even in the courts

Just verdicts are primarily the product of character, not IQ.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch:

Matos-Maasei: Why Is Tumah Bad?

Our body must ultimately succumb to nature; not so our soul.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Parashat Pinchas: Speak up!

Hashem wants us to defend His honor.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Balak: Our moral core

Bilaam couldn’t harm us, but our own misbehavior did.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch:

Chukat: A boy can do it

We’re all born with free will to choose right from wrong.

Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch:

Shelach: Jewish giants

The physical world may affect our spiritual nature more than we realize.

Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch:

Behaalotcha: Patience is a virtue

Our ancestors didn’t know their arrival and departure dates.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Naso: Chinuch and chenek

Why are the Hebrew words for education and strangulation connected?

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch:

Bamidbar: She’s family

In Jewish law, a maidservant isn’t a lowly slave.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch:

Bechukotai: Is Jew-hatred immutable?

Hashem promised us three periods of exile – each one better than the next.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Parshat Behar: Come home

Why did Yericho’s walls crumble to the ground?

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Parashat Kedoshim: How can you love someone like yourself?

The Torah doesn’t demand the impossible.

Rabbi Hirsch on the parsha: Put on your weekday clothes with care

Torah truth must permeate a person’s mundane life.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parsha: Sharing isn’t optional

Private property comes with responsibilities – to others.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parsha: Tzaraas isn’t leprosy

The laws of tzaraas are incomprehensible if we adopt the general translation.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parsha: Tethered to the past

Our mission and our ancestors’ mission are one and the same.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parsha: Do you care?

Animosity is often better than indifference.

Rabbi Hirsch on the parsha: Enmeshed in darkness

Why couldn’t the Jews erect the Mishkan at night?

Rabbi Hirsch on the parsha: Mirrors in the Mishkan

G-d wants us to sanctify the physical, not shun it.

Rav Samson R. Hirsch on the parsha: Want to be free?

The Torah enables us to rise above the natural order.

Rabbi Samson R. Hirsch on the parsha: Hold its feet

The Jewish lamb is happy, joyful, and virile – not meek.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parsha: 6 and 1

The menorah teaches us how to live our lives.

Rabbi Hirsch: Cardiac Jews, Orthopraxic Jews

Neither the heart nor the deed is sufficient. G-d wants both.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parsha: Year zero

We’re not supposed to start from scratch every generation.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parsha: Speak up!

Tell your children what you believe and why.

Rabbi Hirsch on the parsha: Moshe wasn’t G-d

The Torah wanted to make sure we didn’t get carried away.

Rabbi Hirsch on the parsha: Religion isn’t a game

​​​​​​​Pharaoh didn’t take Moshe seriously because he didn’t take his own religion seriously.

Rabbi Samson R. Hirsch on the parsha: The secret world of fish

​​​​​​​Outsiders don’t see what happens beneath the surface.

Rabbi S.R. Hirsch on the parsha: Should we pave our own path?

Individuality is valuable but only if the Torah lies at its core.

Rabbi Hirsch on the parsha:Is your wife on the same page as you?

Asnas came from a very different background than Yosef, but she embraced his vision.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parsha: Keep burning

Hashem wants every aspect of our life to be fuel for His fire.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch: A recipe for peace of mind

A guilty conscience plagued Yaakov before meeting Esav.

Rav Hirsch on the parsha: Don’t let the angels laugh at you

The solution is on earth, not in heaven.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parsha: Improper parenting

Yistchak and Rivkah raised Esav without regard to his nature.

Rav Samson R. Hirsch on the parsha: Are adolescents innocent?

They can be – if they follow Sarah and Rivkah’s example.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parsha: Merciless Rapists

Sodom’s population had no redeeming element.

Rabbi Hirsch on the parsha: Avraham, the first “Protestant”

​​​​​​​We’re supposed to change the world, not Torah.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on mankind: Are we born good?

A famous verse ןמ Genesis 8 seems to suggest otherwise.

​​​Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parsha: A time for action

G-d expects pious Jews to do more than pray.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parsha: Torah, not therapy

​​​​​​​The answer to our problems – and the source of our joy – is Divine meaning.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on Sukkot: Smile

G-d wants us to be happy.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parshah: Cowering in fear

Avodah Zarah prevents man from being fully human.

Rabbi Samson R. Hirsch on Rosh Hashanah: Facts, not feelings

The High Holy Days aren’t about cheap sentimentality.

Rabbi Samson R. Hirsch on the parsha: Breathing isn’t enough

Life is more than the absence of death.