Parashat Shoftim:

Law enforcement in the Torah

The Torah does not deal with us in absolute specific terms but rather establishes general parameters of righteous judicial systems and equitable standards of law enforcement.

Rabbi Berel Wein laid to rest

'A loss to his family, to the entire Jewish people'

Rabbi Joel Kenigsberg compares Rabbi Berel Wein's loss to the loss of Abraham our forefather, 'some individuals are so singular in their greatness that the world recognizes their loss instantly.'

Rabbi Berel Wein, Jewish historian and author, passes away

Rabbi Berel Wein, prolific author, Jewish historian, Arutz Sheva columnist, and beloved yeshiva dean and synagogue rabbi, passes away in Jerusalem at 91.

Shoftim:

Free from corruption

The results of many cases brought before the US Supreme Court are predictable because of the previous strongly held views of the individual justices. They are not corrupt in the criminal sense of the word, but in the world of the Torah they are not freed from the taint of corruption.

Rabbi Berel Wein:

Behaalotcha: The complainers

We are bidden to deal with problems to the extent that we can and not to dwell on them and constantly complain about them.

Monasticism in Judaism

The Torah describes for us quite clearly and vividly the necessity for some manifestation of monasticism, be it permanent or temporary, in Jewish life and social order.

The desert nourished by the waters of Torah

No matter how bleak and barren the desert landscape in which we currently find ourselves, we should always be cognizant of the ability of Torah to refresh and renew us.

Bechukotai: Visions of darkness and light

Though we pray regularly for health and serenity, we must always be cognizant of how precarious situations truly are.

Swimming against the tide

Judaism's defensive measures against moral transgressions are mocked and scorned by the progressives of the current world. Look where that got them.

“After the death of the two sons of Aaron"

An explanation that helps us understand the depths of the Torah’s sensitivity to the human psyche and condition. We are still in the throes of every tragedy that befalls the Jewish People, all the more so today.

Shmini: The eighth day

We are all eighth day Jews. What does that mean?

Shmot: The book of human judgment

The book of Shemot ends on a triumphant note.

Sanctifying time

In human behavior and thought, time is as important as wealth or location or the accomplishment of any human deeds.

Chaye Sarah: Here in the Land of Israel all is good

In everyone’s life there are moments of danger, frustration, disappointment and even tragedy, but they need not describe our lives.

A small, lonely and eternal people

Even the cursory reader senses that Avraham and Sarah are up to something great – that this is no ordinary tale of pioneering and struggle.

Seven weeks of consolation!

Three weeks of sadness requires seven weeks of consolation. That’s the period of the calendar that we are in right now.

How could the Jewish people behave this way?

I wonder to myself,,,

Behar-Bechukotai: Great blessings and stern warnings

The story of the Jewish people: Our tears are always mixed with joy and our joy is always laden with a heavy dose of accompanying tears.

Priestly lineage - priestly mission

The values of marriage, probity in relationships, pedigree and family were all strengthened in the Jewish nation by the priestly laws.

Ki Tisa: How could Aharon have done what he did?

The Torah excuses no sins and gives no one a free pass on one’s negative behavior. But it leaves room for mitigating evil acts.

The major identity test of life

In this week’s parsha of Terumah the Torah presents a challenge to human behavior.

MIshpatim: The message of individual freedom

Governments that prach equality enslave others without a second thought.

Yitro: The small things in life that build a healthy society

Why is there such an apparent emphasis on Yitro and his arrival when this week's parsha contains the Revelation at Mount Sinai?

Beshalach: Momentous moments in history

We can relive the event intellectually and positively in an historic vein but the emotional grandeur of the moment evaporates over time.

Arrogance of power, arrogance of intellect

The dictators of our past century: Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Arafat, never admitted to error and led their people to untold suffering

Vaeira: Would not one great plague alone have sufficed?

After all, in the past century we witnessed how two bombs forced the powerful and fanatical Japanese Empire to surrender unconditionally.

What did the Jews do wrong?

The Torah does not describe to us the process by which the situation so radically changed for Jews in Egypt. Nor how Moshe grew to lead.

Vayechi: Immortality and continuity, family and generations

The rabbis must be telling us a deeper message than mere biological and genetic survival from the past until today.

Jacob blesses Pharaoh - does Pharaoh realize why?

Though Jacob lived a stormy and often tragic life, it is he who blesses Pharaoh for Jacob possesses the gift of the future and immortality.

Miketz: A narrative of Providence in human affairs

Joseph is seen as the main antagonist to Eisav, for Eisav always attributed events to random chance and to human action and power.

Should we psychoanalyze Joseph and his brothers?

Even those who are observant and scholarly sometimes insert currently faddish values and interpretations into the Torah's eternal words.

Vayishlach: Jacob has nowhere to run

Jacob, who barely escapes from the treachery of Lavan, soon finds himself confronted by the deadly mob of his brother Esav.

Vayetze: Appeasement vs. Confrontation

Jacob has a dual mode of action. In the galut, the Jewish people made use of one, but in their own land, they can choose the other.

Chayei Sarah: Formidable women

Sarah is the woman of iron that acts to guarantee the future survival of the Jewish people.

Alma deshikra - a world of falseness - and Abraham

God’s seal is truth. Truth is the gift that we ask God to grant to Yaakov. Sodom and Avimelech are the diametric opposite of that.

Lech Lecha: The children of Abraham have returned home

Abraham’s descendants, the Jewish people, have shared his test and challenge with him over our long history.

Noah: Failure of greatness

The failure of greatness is depressing. How could the righteous man of his time end up drunk and disheveled in his tent?

Outside the Garden of Eden

What life was like within the Garden of Eden is pretty much an unknown to us.

Haazinu: This entire, very complex story

All the events of Jewish history are outlined in this parsha. Ramban called Moshe an exceptional prophet, and 750 years later,it sill holds.

Vayelech: A short and powerful parasha

This parsha especially gains in power and relevance as Jewish history unfolds over thousands of years.

Judaism, an equal opportunity faith

There is no separate Shulchan Aruch for rabbis, no dispensation for kings and prophets. The covenant binds and governs us all equally.

Ki Tavo: The inconsonance between generations

The most bitter curse of all of those in the parasha is that future generations will undo all we have done.

Why the Torah concentrates on behavior, not its causes

The Torah presumes that in spite of all of its warnings, commandments and values, human beings, good decent people, fall prey to weaknesses,

There are times the minority must make itself heard

The forest always trumps the trees in the Jewish view of law and halakhic life, but not in everything else.

Re'eh: The vision of the future

The word re’ah which means “see” is the key word in the parsha. This entails a vision for the future and its new demands in Eretz Yisrael.

Ekev:They heard only what they wished to hear

Moshe presents, throughout his discourse, both sides of the coin.Unfortunately, over the ages, the Jews have not always chosen wisely.

Shabbat Nachamu: Beginning a time of consolation

Healing occurs when one believes that there is yet a future ahead.

Summing up forty years

Moshe communicates a message to the generation in the desert and about to enter an unknown land, and he resonates on for eternity.

Mattot-Masei: The presence of those no longer with us

It is not only Joshua who is leading the Jewish people into the land of Israel, but the Patriarchs and Matriarchs.

Mattot: Words are binding

Everything that is uttered from our mouths obligates us to the commitment attached to it.

Pinchas: Impetuous upstart or heroic leader?

There are so many times in history that this story has repeated itself, albeit always under different circumstances.

Balak: Who needs an anti-Semite's compliments?

The Talmud teaches us that from the words of blessing from the mouth of Bilaam, we can determine what his true intent was: Poison candy.

Chukat (Israel): Heavenly irrationality

How ironic that the most irrational of all creatures – human beings – criticize Jewish tradition as not being rational or easily explained.

Korach: Personal ambition and unwarranted hubris

It is quite common in history that dangerous, corrupt, and nefarious political groups always claim the high moral ground for themselves.

Shlach: Testing God

The people’s relationship with the Creator was dysfunctional and it seems they did not share Hs program for their future.

Naso: Repetition and Behaalotcha: Parenthood for independence

Much of Judaism is based upon repetitive behavior.and the leaders' offerings exemplify that while the menora flame is a message to parents.

Bamidbar: When mystery prevails over human understanding

Apparently, the greater the detail, the greater the mystery that it engenders.

Bechukotai (Israel): The totality of Jewish life

As important as knowledge of history is – and I consider it to be very important – history alone can ever preserve us.

Behar (Israel): Life is never an easy climb

Mount Sinai exemplifies the mountain that Abraham saw.

The priesthood

Judaism, which always is a meritocracy, nevertheless, creates an aristocracy in the priesthood of Aaron and his descendants.