Torah

Smotrich: “Zionism without Torah is lost"

The Minister of Finance and Chairman of Religious Zionism wrote that the holiday of Shavuot expresses the deep connection between the Torah, the land and settlement in the Land.

Shavuot:

Torah to the Nation

“You have chosen us from among all the nations, You have loved us and desired us.."

Receiving the Torah:

The pedigree of the People of Israel

Because Yaakov chose Hashem to be his G-d, Hashem chose Israel - Yaakov’s nation - to be His special lot.

My Chevruta: Fifty years and the architecture of Time

What appears as repetition is never merely repetition. Each return to the text carried with it a subtle transformation, both of the material and of ourselves.

Give honor to the Torah

When the Torah scroll is being carried, and also when it is lifted up, everyone who sees it must stand until the scroll is placed in its place in the ark, or on the bimah.

I am grateful to G-d

The Jewish people are a portable sanctuary. We are still here. Still learning. Still singing. Still blessing. Still arguing with love. Still raising Jewish children who will carry the flame forward. That is not sociology. That is not luck. That is Hashem holding us up.

Knock, knock

An example of Israeli black humor opens the door to a frank discussion of what keeps Jews fighting for the Jewish homeland. Op-ed.

In first: Torah translation into Ukrainian completed

Team of rabbis completes translation of Pentateuch into Ukrainian in historic project, hundreds of copies printed and distributed across Ukraine.

Elul session opens with Torah lesson in heart of Gaza battlefield

Rabbi Ben-Zion Algazi, Dean of the Ramat Gan Hesder Yeshiva and IDF reservist, delivered a Torah lecture inside Gaza to soldiers, inspiring even non-religious officers at the front.

Rashi was an ardent Zionist

Rashi wants to teach us that without Eretz Yisrael there is no Torah, no Am Yisrael, nor Sanctification of Hashem in the world.

Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook explains the spies:

Parashat Shlach: Halfway Emunah

In discouraging aliyah to Israel, the spies did not have Emunah. In other matters, they did believe. They believed, and yet they didn’t believe.

Shavuot:

The Torah of threes

'Blessed is the all-Merciful One, Who gave the threefold Torah: Torah, Prophets, and Writings, to the three-fold nation: Priests, Levites, and Israelites, by means of a third-born: Moses...in the third month, Sivan.

Join live:

Special Torah Study night to unite Jews in Diaspora and Israel

A unique Torah study evening in honor of Shavuot being held now, brought to you by the Conference of European Rabbis and Arutz Sheva.

Professor Chaim Sukenik:

Torah and Science enhance one another

Special interview with Professor Chaim Sukenik, outgoing President of the Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) at the annual Torah and Science Conference.

Personal Growth series:

How we ought to care for others

The Torah prohibits the murder of and theft from any human being. In addition, we should act respectfully towards every human being because we are all created in Hashem’s image.

We are the context

The news can be seen through the lens of Islamist hate, a rise in anti-semitism, ignorance, oil money, politics of various kind and the land. But the real context is somewhere else. Opinion.

"If only You had blessed him with long life"

On the one year Azkara of my son-in-law David Schwartz Z”L, Hy"d

Several weeks ago, Aruz Sheva ceased posting weekly Parasha articles by David Schwartz Hy"d. They had been translated from the book of Divrei Torah published for his wedding to Meital שתיבל"א and sadly, there are no more. David Hy"d is certainly learning Torah with the other tsaddikim in Gan Eden...

Insights from 30 Years as a Dealer in STaM

My journey has brought to light critical insights that I believe every member of the Jewish community should know

Ki Tavo:

Bringing Har Sinai to Eretz Yisrael

This is the Torah of Eretz Yisrael - and we have to say Amen.

The great divide

Flailing of the Israeli courts are an attempt to crush the unity of the Jewish people. Op-ed.

Taking Torah Seriously - on how to wage war

Instead of adopting the Torah’s approach of besieging a city with starvation, thirst, and the spread of disease, we have embraced the opposite approach, and then complain when the war drags on, our soldiers are killed, and our hostages suffer privation and death.

If Judaism Is immutable, how can It be relevant?

A Tale of Two Torahs: The timeless and the timely.

Revivim:

'Do not forsake My Torah'

The destruction of the Land occurred not only because they did not listen to God’s voice and did not fulfill the commandments, but also because they forsook the Torah.

"This is the statute of the Torah": Chukat haTorah

Questions and answers of rabbinic commentators on the idea of laws for which we have no reason.

Eretz Yisrael in the parasha: Initiative in battle for the land

Young religious Zionist scholars find connections between the Torah reading and the Land of israel.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

The Lesson of Mount Sinai

Where would one expect that God would reveal His Torah to the Jewish people?

Shavuot and Torah: The 'yetser hara' conundrum

At the end of days, the nations will claim that they are entitled to be rewarded, even though they did not keep the Torah.

Matan Rosh Hodesh Sivan Torah Essay:

“A great voice, and added no more”

The question which Torah was given at Sinai relates to an important controversy between Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva.

About the Jews

Islamist, be careful what you prophesize. Let the world be on notice that the Jew will nevermore drown in a sea of antisemitism, waiting for a rescuer.

Haredim and the Living Torah

In a perfect world, in my view, every Jew would spend time as a soldier and every soldier would spend time learning in a yeshiva – the former to teach us how to fight, the latter to teach us what we are fighting for.

Important themes of Rav Yitzchok Hutner's teachings

Part 3: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Founders and Pillars of the Jewish People.

Ki Tisa: The real you Is perfect

Our sages taught that when we repent properly, even deliberate sins are turned into merits.

Mishpatim: Accepting two Torahs

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: The Jewish people received two Torahs at Sinai.

Mishpatim: Time for Torah

When I study the Torah and come to “know” G-d’s thinking as well as Adam knew Eve, G-d is present in my mind.

Yitro: A pure Revelation

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: The Torah given to Moses by Hashem at Sinai is exactly what he gave the Jewish people.

The light keeper

There is only one source of light. There is no pluralism in the Torah. Our multiple opinions and traditions must align with the single source of the Torah’s light.

Rabbi Dr. Raymond Apple has passed away

Formerly the leading Jewish rabbinic spokesman in Australia, Rabbi and Mrs. Apple made aliya upon his retirement. His concise and well-chosen Divrei Torah were featured on Arutz Sheva for many years.

Is there no Torah in Exile?

How can our Sages say that there is no Torah in the Diaspora? The Jews continued learning Torah all over the world.

Jewish victory depends on Jewish unity

Torah Templates of the past predict future patterns of Jewish History and Destiny.

A time to study esoteric wisdom

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: At times, the soul grows weary of the confines of exact sciences, the limited aspirations of narrow disciplines.

Which commandments are more important?

Commandments between man and G-d or man and his fellow man - which are more important?

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.

What we must do after the war

Israel must retake control of the entire Land of Israel and never withdraw again.

A tale of two Torahs: The timeless and the timely

If Judaism Is immutable, how can it be relevant?

Eikev: Blessings over bread and Torah

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: Why is Birkat Hamazon recited after the meal, while the blessing for Torah study is recited before studying?

Why Israel must reclaim its soul now

The Split In Israel: Hatikvah Vs. Bentching. What does one have that the other doesn't?

Rabbi Shinshon Rafael Hirsch: Should we make the Torah easier?

Our ancestors found G-d’s law difficult to obey, but G-d never lowered His standards.

Report:

Sweden to change law related to burning of sacred texts

Swedish government reportedly informs Israel it is working to change local law following uproar over burning of Jewish Bible.

Naftali Bennett:

'Burning a Torah is not free speech, it's hatred and incitement'

Former PM interviewed on Swedish television, explains why Israel is against the Swedish decision to allow a Torah to be burned in public.

Rabbi Dr. Shalom Gold has passed away

Leading rabbi, Torah lecturer and speaker Rabbi Dr. Shalom Gold, passed away on Shabbat.

After Quran burning:

Stockholm authorities receive application to burn Torah

Police in Stockholm receive new applications to burn religious texts following burning of Quran that sparked outrage in the Muslim world.

Op-ed:

Israel can regain the world's respect by embracing its Heritage

Israel's attempts to gain the respect it deserves are not succeeding, and it’s worth considering why. Op-ed.

Balak: An Eternal People

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: The Torah does not extol nationalism for its own sake. When the Jews became a people, they were given a mission.

The Torah of Eretz Yisrael vs. the Torah of Chutz la’Aretz

The natural environment in the Land of Israel supports the observance of Torah; it does not depend on miracles and overcoming nature.

The Torah – a Global Moral Revolution

The Giving of the Torah to Israel rectified an entire world which was subject to slavery, incest, and injustice in law

Watch:

American yeshiva students visit Rabbi Gershon Edelstein

The senior haredi leader discussed the Torah's sweetness with the students, who came to visit ahead of the Shavuot holiday.

The gift from Esau and Ishmael: Naaseh veNishma

Ramban:’Had not Israel accepted the Torah, the world would have returned to nothingness, BY ITSELF...’.

Every Jew is a letter in the Torah

But - we sink or swim together, just as a kosher Torah needs all its letters to be kosher.

Yitro: Torah demands integrity

No ego and no pretentiousness. Ego is an acronym for edging G-d out.

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?