Daniel Pinner

Mattot-Mas’ei: 42 stations

Why does the Torah list all 42 of these stations? What does this list add to our knowledge or understanding?

Balak: Welcome back, Diaspora shul-goers

The double parashah which communities in exile will read this week, Chukkat-Balak, can happen only in exile, never in Israel.

Conversation in the desert

The twelve men chosen to reconnoitre the Promised Land in a heart to heart (imagined) conversation.

Shavuot: The Torah and the Land

Shavuot synthesises the Torah and the Land of Israel perfectly: G-d gave us His Torah on this day to keep in the Land of Israel.

Op-ed:

Another ceasefire…and another…and another…

We can but live the best we can and look forward to the next round unless we decide to take back Gaza. Op-ed.

Parashat Emor: Between independence and liberating Jerusalem

The Haftarah for Emor gives us hope for the future, the future which has already begun in the last two generations.

Yom Ha'atzmaut: Where in the Redemption are we?

We no longer stand on the edge of Redemption: we have already taken our first hesitant, faltering, uncertain steps into Redemption..

Thoughts during the sounding of the siren

Yom Hazikaron, Memorial Day for IDF Fallen and Victims of Terror 5783 (2023) begins with a siren on Monday 8pm and then at 11am Tuesday.

Memorializing the Holocaust: The world versus Israel

Israel and Jewish communities commemorate the Holocaust as a time when Jews were murdered, but also as a time when Jews fought back.

Parashat Tzav and Shabbat HaGadol: chametz and matza

The Todah (the last sacrifice we read before Pesach) and the Korban Pesach both convey the same idea: The Jew must thank G-d, but not alone.

Vayikra and Nissan: A new era in our relationship with G-d

The Mishkan, the start of the month of Nissan and the beginning of the Book of Leviticus, mark a new phase in Jewish history.

Shabbat Hachodesh: Nation of Royalty

It is significant that our first national mitzvah was to take control of our time starting with the new year of kings.

Ki Tisa and Shabbat Parah: Taking off the mask

Our Sages enacted that on the Shabbat (occasionally the final Shabbat) before Nissan, every Shul would read this decree of the Red Cow:

Shushan Purim: The sweetest victory

Can you hear us celebrating, Haman? Hark from whatever dismal depths you are in now, and hear our sweet children singing in our own country.

Parashat Truma and the month of Adar-a contra to Av

it is appropriate that the Torah-readings for Adar, when we increase in joy, prepare us for building the Mishkan. Numerology attests to it.

Mishpatim, the legislative parasha

Is this a random selection of mitzvot, or is there a connecting theme?

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers…”

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, will yet defeat our enemies in the Land of Israel.

The Tenth of Tevet: Why do we fast?

The final sentence could have been delayed, or even averted altogether, if only the nation had repented.

Vayigash:The only mistaken thing Jacob ever said

What was the reason for Jacob's fear about going to Egypt?

The essence of Light: Miketz, Hanukkah, and Rosh Chodesh Tevet:

This year 5783, as occurs about one-third of the time, Shabbat Parashat Miketz falls on Rosh Chodesh Tevet which is on Hanukkah..And...

Why didn't we light 8 candles the first night of Hanukkah?

Should we see the world as it is, or as it should be? We pray for the day the potential is going to be the same as the actual. Speedily!

A robe too far

Why was it this luxurious robe, rather than anything else, that so aroused Joseph's brothers’ ire?

Vayishlach: Ask an American Rabbi

Jacob could have saved himself a lot of trouble had he stayed put in Laban's house.

How to get angelic protection

When a Jew leaves Israel: there is an interim when he has no Divine protection. When he comes, he is escorted by the angels of the land.

Chayei Sarah: Towards the downfall of the savage

Yishmael - A man suited to the desert, unable to coexist with his fellow-men, accept human laws or to live with civilized human society..

Vayeira: Unexpected source of Redemption

The incestuous union of Lot and his daughter, began the dynasty that would culminate in the Mashiach.

Lech Lecha: The conversation that never was

Had the words of G-d been said to Abraham today, what would the outcome be?

Noah – The flawed tzaddik

Rabbi Yochanan perceived that something was wrong and it is not just that Noah did not try to save his generation, as is usually said..

Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah, the last Festival in Tishrei

Ending the month of beginnings.

Yom Kippur: Genesis of Repentance

As G-d’s world was launched, He already provided the capacity for atonement on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, repentance, forgiveness.

Parashat Vayeilech: Going into the future

G-d had given Israel 611 mitzvot via Moshe, only two more remain. And these two final mitzvot ensure Jewish continuity after Moshe is gone

Moses' words in Nitzavim: Prelude to Rosh Hashanah

Since Moshe said “all of you” why did he add "your heads, your Tribes, your elders and your officers, every man of Israel; your infants..."?

Ki Tavo: The ultimate punishment

Comparing the first set of admonitions (tochacha) with those in this week's parasha.

Ki Teitze: Coincidence?

There are mitzvas which, by their nature, no one can plan to do. Perhaps God sends these opportunities to those who look for mitzvot to do.

Time to build the Holy Temple

The Prophet Haggai’s words about the Beit Hamikdash speak to us even as they did to the Jews in Israel of his generation:

Another ceasefire…and another…and another…

The Arabs in Gaza will start firing again the moment they decide it’s in their interests to do so. We have no deterrence. Op-ed.

Irgun document, 75 years on

75 years ago this week, the Irgun published the English broadsheet below, directed at rank-and-file soldiers of the British Army.Op-ed..

After the 9th of Av comes Tu B'Av

When Moshe began to speak his own words to his beloved people for the first time, how did he begin?

Halakhot on greeting the Mashiach if he comes this Sunday

We do not know exactly how the Redemption will come about and in what order things will occur, but let us be prepared!

Unifying Israel, G-d, the Torah, and the Land

It is supremely appropriate that it is precisely during the Three Weeks that we meet up again and become re-united in our Torah-readings.

Mattot (Israel):Do you know what you’re fighting for?

Today in Israel religious soldiers prove to be dedicated fighters. Like the fighters in the parasha, they know what they are fighting for. .

Did Balak know of the blessings granted Abraham?

\Israel’s enemies today are as disparate as the Amorites, Moab, Midian, Aram, Canaanites and Philistines -and will have the same fate.

Korach: The rebellion of the tzaddikim

Korach's challenge to Moshe sounds almost like an anarchist’s protest against any form of authority, he was no common rabble rouser.:

Shlach: Connected to the Land of Israel

Thirty years before the Exodus, a vast contingent of Ephraimites left Egypt because they had miscalculated the end-time for Egyptian exile.

Behaalotcha: Towards Israel

The sequence of breaking camp and travelling is not random or capricious: there are reasons for the Tribes travelling in formation.

Shavuot: A lesson from the Torah

Would we not have expected Shavuot, of all the Festivals in our calendar, to be replete with impressive rituals?

Bechukotai: Yes, the Jews secretly control the world

G-d promises us in His Torah that if we keep His mitzvot in His Land, then He will give peace throughout the world.

Behar:God has given us the power to restore Yovel!

We can be G-d’s partners in holiness.G-d has given us, His people, the power to restore a Torah-commandment.Shmitta and soon, Yovel.

The soul of the Mishna

A book which brings inspiring and beautiful interpretation to Mishnayot which, at first, seem to be just legal disputes between the Sages.

Parashat Emor (Israel) and Yom Ha'atzmaut

Perhaps it is not coincidence that Parashat Emor almost always falls in the 23-day period between Yom Ha'atzmaut and Yom Herut Yerushalayim.

Memorializing the Holocaust in Israel in contrast to Europe

The two different dates indicate two different ways of looking at the Holocaust and the people the Nazis hoped to destroy.

Temple Mount, now and then

On the 4th day of Pesach 1,974 years ago a Roman soldier sparked a Jewish revolt. It took 7 years to defeat Jerusalem then. And now?

Now that Pesach has finished-yes you read this correctly

Pesach on the 14th of Nissan and the Festival of Matzot which begins on the 15th and lasts for seven days are two separate Festivals

Shabbat Ha-Gadol: Redemption then, redemption now

Shabbat ha-Gadol, “the Great Shabbat” before Pesach, commemorates our final Shabbat in Egypt, 3,334 years ago, five days before the Exodus.

Parashat Shmini/Shabbat Parah: So you think you understand?

The deaths of Nadav and Avihu in Parashat Shmini coupled with reading about the Red Heifer - we can neither add to or fathom mitzvot..

Shushan Purim:: The sweetest victory

Can you hear us celebrating, Haman? Hear our children singing! In our own country, we defeat you year by year.

Purim: The rule of law above all

Close Megillah reading is essential to understanding exile mentality, on the part of government, gentiles and Jews in their host country.

Pekudei 5782

The great leveller: War - and Tehillim

It is said that war is a great leveller: on the battlefield, rich and poor are equally killed. For Jews, it is serving G-d and prayer.

Shabbat Shekalim:Towards Redemption

The redemption from Egypt was completed with the Mishkan. The final redemption will be complete when we rebuild the third Holy Temple.

Esther Pollard: A person's soul is the candle of Hashem

Esther Pollard’s physical body returned to the ground of the Land of Israel, her spirit has returned to the G-d Who gave it.