Judaism (Page 9)

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Pirkei Avot: The crown of a good name

A “good name" is not a record of one’s spiritual and moral achievements.

Haftarat Parshat Emor:

A Priesthood still becoming

In Jewish tradition, the kohen is not merely a Temple functionary; he is a representative of the nation’s deepest aspirations.

Daf Yomi:

Opening Masechet Chulin: A fundamental question

Is there a connection between chulin meat and korban meat? Why do they share similar laws of slaughtering?

Parashat Emor:

Kohanim and festivals

Why did G-d interrupt the sequence of the mitzvot of the Kohanim with the mitzvot of the Festivals?

Brit Olam Dvar Torah for Noahides:

Between the illusion of death and the engineering of life

The Iranian failure is not only political or moral. It is cognitive. It begins with a false perception of reality itself. In contrast, Judaism built a system in which spiritual leadership is commanded to keep its distance from death to protect the vitality of its foundations.

Emor:

What do I say? A Torah perspective

In a double expression in Parshat Emor, the Torah teaches an important lesson on the responsibility of adults to guide youth and the central role of refined speech and the importance of respectful communication and moral leadership within Am Yisrael.

Office of the UK Chief Rabbi: Emor

A Kiddush Hashem in Golders Green

This week's parasha speaks of sanctifying G-d's Name, Kiddush Hashem. At the Golder's Green attack, nobody intended to perform this commandment, but it shone forth from them.

Parashat Emor:

Sanctification among the Children of Israel

The meaning of “holy" is entwined with the sanctification of the Divine Name. How is that done?

Perfection Does Not Depend on the Body, But On Spirit

The gap between disqualifying a blemished Kohen from temple service and our deep appreciation for IDF wounded, such as the heroic conscript Ari Spitz, reveals a fundamental principle.

Parashat Emor:

'Say to the kohanim, the sons of Aaron'

The entire verse uses a double expression :’say’, but why?

Parashat Emor:

Made in Heaven?

Jewish education must invest greater effort and resources in guiding our youth in this vital area: providing guidance before marriage.

Dvar Haftorah - Parashat Emor

Making holiness a mindset

“And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the profane and cause them to discern between the impure and the pure" (Ezekiel 44:23).

Part II:

Cremation: Unparalleled cruelty

On the subject of cremation in Jewish Law, part II.

Revivim:

To give thanks, to praise, and to triumph

It is a mitzvah to establish a festive day of joy and thanksgiving to God on the day when salvation was granted to Israel.

War - how is it like cholent?

In both cases, you know what you put in, but you don't know what comes out. Or is it not to simple...

Watch:

Weekly Tanya video/lecture -- The Holy Epistle

The Tanya compacts four millennia of Jewish wisdom to answer the great personal and existential questions of life. It has revolutionized the way we think about G -d the human soul, the world and our place in it.

A Bridge Too Far:

When the court harms children to punish their parents

In an attempt to settle the debate over conscription, the justices are using small children as a means of punishing their parents.

An interview with Rabbi Dov Lior

Today’s greatest mitzvah

We must work day and night as one nation to continue the ingathering, to continue the rebuilding, to continue all together in the battle to safeguard our inheritance from enemies without and within, striving alongside Hashem for the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash, may it be soon.

Redeeming narratives

A bold framing. Perhaps even uncomfortable and problematic.. But one that creates the conditions for connection.

Inspiring stories from the bomb shelter

Stories to remember that took place in various bomb shelters (miklatim) across Eretz Yisrael in the recent war with Iran.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Kedoshim: Lessons in Tzedakah

The Hebrew word for charity, tzedakah, derives from tzedek, meaning “justice."

Haftarat Paraashat Acharei Mot/Kedoshim

In defense of Jerusalem

How the saintly Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Charlap, rav of the celebrated Beit Knesset HaGra in Jerusalem, acted with regard to the Haftarah when Parashat Kedoshim was read without being preceded by Acharei Mot.

Parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim:

Shabbat Vehadarta: Between Yom Haatzma’ut and Yom Yerushalayim

The scene the prophet depicts as one that shows that Redemption is here is so familiar in today’s Jerusalem that we don’t even recognize it as anything to get excited about.

Shavuot=Yom Kippur??

The Torah portions of Acharei Mot and Kedoshim reveal the deeper role of Yom Kippur as the lasting day of forgiveness and true acceptance of the Torah, offering new insight into its connection with Shavuot.

The Art of Kedusha within the Art of War

In these terrible times of war, in these terrible times of killings and the murder of Jews-times of Acharei Mot-we still remain Kedoshim.

Acharei Mot-Kedoshim:

Are mitzvot enough?

The Rambam teaches that we must say a blessing before we eat any food or enjoy pleasant aromas.

Ethics of the Fathers:

The space between us

May the Mishnah we are about to learn inspire us to infuse all our relationships and gatherings with Torah study.

Parashat Acharei-Mot/Kedoshim:

Medinat Yisrael is a Torah Commandment!

So why do so many religious Jews live in the Diaspora? One explanation is that after being expelled from Eretz Yisrael, during our long and oppressive years of wandering, our clear understanding of our original national mission became foggy and lost.

Dvar Haftorah: Acharei Mot/ Kedoshim

The promise of permanence

Could it be that what we commemorate on Yom Haatzma'ut is not merely a political milestone, but the unfolding of a prophetic promise?

Between Holocaust and Revival: A Faith-Based View

A stark message to the nations: reality has changed, and the dream of erasing Israel has faded.

Two he-goats, two atonements

Various commentators are brought to bear on the reasons for the two fates for the two he-goats of Yom Kippur.

Happy Independence Day!

We already have a powerful and modern country, but we must remember and repeat that the goal is not only a material home; we must pour spirit and soul into the national enterprise.

“Those who are redeemed by God"

The title is a phrase from Psalm 107, said at the start of the Yom Haatzma'ut evening service. What is its significance?

On the meaning of Israel's wars

These wars themselves are stages of the Redemption. Our wars are not like all the other wars in the world. We are engaged in a long and difficult war against war itself, against the impurity and evil which degrades mankind into wielding the sword and shedding blood.

From the Depth of Loss to Atzma'ut:

The "Klal Gadol" binding us together

On Yom HaZikaron, as we stand in the depth of loss, we see what Rabbi Akiva shouted: We are one family. The soldiers currently on the front lines and those who have fallen do not check who is "religious enough" or "political enough.

Do American Jews really care?

When the sirens sound, will we hear them?

Those who live in Israel sacrifice daily for the dream of Jewish peoplehood. We in the US, who do not yet live there, have a greater obligation to demonstrate that nothing, not ideology or geographical distance, can hold us apart.

The essence of Independence

The word for "independence" in Hebrew, atsma'ut, has different possibiities for delving into its meaning.

Where do they differ?

Haredim and Religious Zionists

The argument is an internal argument, within the family, like the arguments between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon and between Rashi and Tosafot.

Post Passover Reflections:

Linking the past, present, and future

What does Passover-now behind us-ask of us today?

Revivim:

A mezuzah in an elevator

In our time, when the elevator has become the accepted way of entering homes, it is appropriate to affix a mezuzah there.

Office of the UK Chief Rabbi:

How tragedy turns into a reward

In our prayers, we often ask Hashem to bless us with יְשׁוּעָה וְנֶחָמָה, salvation and consolation. Throughout our history, as they do this week, the two come together.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Pirkei Avot: Torah and creative labor

The labor demanded of us is the labor of creation: to give voice to Torah, so that its light may spread and uplift the life of the nation.

Tanya Roadmap video/lecture

The Tanya compacts four millennia of Jewish wisdom to answer the great personal and existential questions of life. It has revolutionized the way we think about G -d the human soul, the world and our place in it.

Why does distance create holiness?

The Torah portions of Tazria and Metzora teach that true holiness requires balancing distance and closeness, as seen in the laws of purity that safeguard personal, family, and Temple sanctity.

Parshat Tazria-Metzora:

What is the true core of the Torah?

Lessons from the Torah portions of Tazria and Metzora, the exact middle of the Torah, and how all three connect to the days of the Omer.

The moral disgrace of the Vatican

One of the centers of global anti-Semitism is found in the Vatican, which for generations has preached hatred of Israel.

World Emunah:

Dvar Torah for Iyar

Even the great Rabbi Akiva's pupils failed to keep "you shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Tazria-Metzora and Rosh Chodesh:

Signs of Redemption

Isaiah’s magnificent, inspiring prophecies are coming true before our very eyes. They are no longer a matter of faith: they are now tomorrow’s headlines.

More than an Insurance Company:

Why the American chassis doesn't fit the Israeli soul

Dvar Torah for Noahides: Israel and America are allies today not because they are identical, but because in this moment they serve a shared purpose.

Parashat Tazria-Metzora

Parental love

A parent’s attachment to their child can become at odds with the imperative to act in the best interests of the child.

Parashat Tazria-Metzora/Yom Hashoah;

Responding to suffering without clear answers

We remember a world that was destroyed, we look at the threats we face right now, and we are left with that same unanswered question: Why?

Parashat Tazria-Metzora

The Parsha and Current Events: Military Conscription

This week’s message deals with military conscription - in the United States of America...

Dvar Haftorah - Shabbat Rosh Chodesh:

At the threshold of renewal

Shabbat Rosh Chodesh is more than a calendrical coincidence, it is an opportunity.

A Survivor’s Story

Morris Engelson emphasized the divine Hand behind all the details, from his childhood in Vilna to his teenage years of hiding, to his ultimate escape.

Intergenerational Holocaust trauma - symptoms recognition

In many cases, symptoms surface at the moment of recognition.

Holocaust Memorial Day:

Why?

On Holocaust Memorial Day at Merkaz Harav Yeshiva decades ago, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook approached the question of the Holocaust from a perspective which embraces all of Jewish history.