MainOpEds ![]() Lech Lecha: Why will YOU make aliya?Noah versus Abraham. And as Angela Epstein wrote in the Daily Mail: If history has taught us Jews anything, it’s knowing when it’s time to pack.![]() Noach is a flawed tzaddikNoach and the Land of Israel.![]() G-d of love, love of G-d32 letters in the Torah have dots above them - and their numerical value appears in two verses. A revelation.![]() Anti-Semitism, terror? Blame the illegal Jewish settlersYour house is ready, perhaps it’s time to think about going back home.![]() Ki Tetsei: Fighting AmalekFighting Amalek and perfecting the world.![]() Shoftim: The land for peace travestyThe laws of warfare talk about enemies, and how to treat them.![]() Holy heresyEverything is for the service of G-d. What about heresy?![]() Fast daysThe Torah-reading for fast-days has a hidden message to help us through hard times.![]() Jerusalem Day: Recognizing the miracleWhat was the single greatest miracle of the entire Six Day War?![]() Warsaw Ghetto uprising or Auschwitz liberation, which day to choose?There are two days to memorialize the Holocaust, representing two fundamentally different world-views.![]() Shabbat Ha-Gadol: Redemption then, redemption nowShabbat Ha-Gadol: Redemption then, redemption now![]() When man restores G-d to His worldWhat exactly is a sacrifice?![]() When man restores G-d to His worldWhat exactly is an offering?![]() Parashat Terumah: A time of joyMoshe’s entire 40-day sojourn atop Mount Sinai had one theme only – building the Mikdash.![]() From Jethro to Jonah to President Donald TrumpSometimes a Jewish prophet, a Jewish national leader, needs to accept some advice, some admonition, from a non-Jewish outsider to learn how to lead the Jewish nation and how to serve G-d.![]() Hanukkah: For the MiraclesThe power of the weak over the mighty.![]() Vayishlach: Becoming IsraelJacob, the man of truth, was forced to deceive and connive.![]() Stand firm - and damn the consequencesJoining up when you see who is winning may be too late.![]() Hoshana Rabba: 70 years since the Nuremberg TrialsThere are no coincidences...![]() The wars of the JewsHow and when to go to war in this week's parsha.![]() From twilight to RedemptionThe potential of the 9th of Av remains.![]() Matot (Israel): Do you know what you are fighting for?The israelite fighters had much in common with their IDF descendants.![]() Pinchas (Israel): Following the daughtersThe daughters of Zelophehad had such a great love for the Land of Israel, they merited that the laws of inheriting land-holdings in the Land of Israel would be written in the Torah at their inspiration.![]() Apologizing to MK ZoabiZoabi hates the state of Israel - and serves in its parliament. The Israel-Turkey agreement elicited a venomous speech from the Arab MK.![]() Shlach (Israel): The beginning of the endPart of the suffering that we as a nation have to undergo in order to inherit and acquire the Land of Israel is to understand and to learn the meaning of freedom and its corollary, responsibility.![]() Nasso (Israel)/Shavuot: Celebrating Israel, celebrating G-dConnecting Jews with G-d, their nation and their land.![]() Bamidbar (Israel): LeadersEven the greatest leader is human, and therefore fallible,![]() Parshat Hachodesh: The blood of RedemptionThis Shabbat we read Parshat Tazria but the Haftorah is the first national mitzva given the Jewish people, that of Hachodesh. They have a spiritual connection.![]() Purim and sacrifices: Why walled cities celebrate the 15th of AdarA historical context for the two days of Purim and the reading of Parashat Tzav.![]() Pekudei: Let the celebrations begin!What greater joy can there be than building the House of G-d?![]() Of calves and covenantsPutting the extent of the sin into perspective.![]() Letter to PM Netanyahu on the continued detention of Meir EttingerEttinger has not been accused of illegal acts. Is there such a thing as an illegal opinion in a democracy?![]() In time of warLook at the Egyptians to see that no matter how seemingly loyal, when it comes to war, a person will side with his original nation and not with Israel.![]() A tale of two staffsWhy two different words for the reptiles that the two staffs were transformed into?![]() When the love-story turns bitter: the Israelites and EgyptIt is the nature of a bush that when someone puts his hand in, he is not injured, because all the thorns point downwards; but when he comes to take his hand out, the thorns catch him and he is unable to take it out. (Midrash)![]() For Shabbat Hanukkah: Miketz and the MaccabeesUnited we stand, divided we fall.![]() Hanukkah: Lighting the path to redemptionHow will we light the Hanukkah lights when Mashiach comes? Read this and be prepared.![]() Parashat Vayeshev: Returning to ShechemWhoever controls Shechem controls a strategic mountain pass.![]() Become who you are!Ishmael tried to be Isaac – even as his descendants today try to usurp Isaac’s inheritance. But there can only be one Isaac, the real one.![]() Follow in the footsteps of AbrahamHe could have done G-d's work in Haran, but he heeded the call. So should we.![]() G-d, Einstein, and How to Make Your Shoe-polish Last ForeverTrue existence – true reality – is measured, and can be measured, solely in terms of Torah.![]() The Sukkah: Nofelet or nofalet?Even a change in a vowel can have a deep meaning in Judaism.![]() Vayeilech: When leaders of Israel die...In memory of a fighter for Eretz Yisrael.![]() Parashat Nitzavim: Choose life!Time to come home.![]() The Place that G-d ChoosesSix stops on the way to Jerusalem.![]() Ki Tetze: Protecting the HomeParashat Ki Tetze is exceptionally rich in mitzvot: it contains 27 positive mitzvot and 47 negative, for a total of 74. They are connected.![]() Re'eh: The Joy of Inheriting the Land of IsraelThe pronouncements of blessings and curses are our very foundation in the Land of Israel.![]() Ekev: To walk before G-d in the Light of LifeThe Land of Israel is bound up with the Jewish People.![]() After Tisha B'Av Comes Shabbat NachamuThe Sabbath of consolation follows the fast of destruction.![]() Parshat Dvarim and the 9th of Av - What's the Connection?Looking forward with hope.![]() 29th of Tammuz, Remembering two Jewish Giants“How are the mighty fallen!” (2 Samuel 1:19)![]() Balak and Fast of the 17th of Tammuz:Parashat Balak invariably falls around the 17th of Tammuz; indeed, and this year, Shabbat Parashat Balak falls precisely on the 17th of Tammuz. What is the connection?![]() Gaza Rockets, Eubulides, and the Sorites ParadoxHow many grains constitute “a heap”? And how many rockets are "a few" beyond which there are "many"?![]() Korach: Despair in the DesertThe Israelites in the desert wanted to enter Israel. How will any Jew who decides, in this generation, to remain in exile answer the question: Were you sincere and honest all those dozens of times every day that you prayed to return to Zion?![]() Sinai to Paran to Israel to Babylon to GermanyThere is a deep connection between Paraha and Haftarah.![]() The Ultimate Blessing of PeaceAn ever increasing blessing. |