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.
We are bidden to deal with problems to the extent that we can and not to dwell on them and constantly complain about them.
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.
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.
Though we pray regularly for health and serenity, we must always be cognizant of how precarious situations truly are.
Judaism's defensive measures against moral transgressions are mocked and scorned by the progressives of the current world. Look where that got them.
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.
We are all eighth day Jews. What does that mean?
The book of Shemot ends on a triumphant note.
In human behavior and thought, time is as important as wealth or location or the accomplishment of any human deeds.
In everyone’s life there are moments of danger, frustration, disappointment and even tragedy, but they need not describe our lives.
Even the cursory reader senses that Avraham and Sarah are up to something great – that this is no ordinary tale of pioneering and struggle.
Three weeks of sadness requires seven weeks of consolation. That’s the period of the calendar that we are in right now.
I wonder to myself,,,
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.
The values of marriage, probity in relationships, pedigree and family were all strengthened in the Jewish nation by the priestly laws.
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.
In this week’s parsha of Terumah the Torah presents a challenge to human behavior.
Governments that prach equality enslave others without a second thought.
Why is there such an apparent emphasis on Yitro and his arrival when this week's parsha contains the Revelation at Mount Sinai?
We can relive the event intellectually and positively in an historic vein but the emotional grandeur of the moment evaporates over time.
The dictators of our past century: Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Arafat, never admitted to error and led their people to untold suffering
After all, in the past century we witnessed how two bombs forced the powerful and fanatical Japanese Empire to surrender unconditionally.
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.
The rabbis must be telling us a deeper message than mere biological and genetic survival from the past until today.
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.
Joseph is seen as the main antagonist to Eisav, for Eisav always attributed events to random chance and to human action and power.
Even those who are observant and scholarly sometimes insert currently faddish values and interpretations into the Torah's eternal words.
Jacob, who barely escapes from the treachery of Lavan, soon finds himself confronted by the deadly mob of his brother Esav.
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.
Sarah is the woman of iron that acts to guarantee the future survival of the Jewish people.
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.
Abraham’s descendants, the Jewish people, have shared his test and challenge with him over our long history.
The failure of greatness is depressing. How could the righteous man of his time end up drunk and disheveled in his tent?
What life was like within the Garden of Eden is pretty much an unknown to us.
All the events of Jewish history are outlined in this parsha. Ramban called Moshe an exceptional prophet, and 750 years later,it sill holds.
This parsha especially gains in power and relevance as Jewish history unfolds over thousands of years.
There is no separate Shulchan Aruch for rabbis, no dispensation for kings and prophets. The covenant binds and governs us all equally.
The most bitter curse of all of those in the parasha is that future generations will undo all we have done.
The Torah presumes that in spite of all of its warnings, commandments and values, human beings, good decent people, fall prey to weaknesses,
The forest always trumps the trees in the Jewish view of law and halakhic life, but not in everything else.
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.
Moshe presents, throughout his discourse, both sides of the coin.Unfortunately, over the ages, the Jews have not always chosen wisely.
Healing occurs when one believes that there is yet a future ahead.
Moshe communicates a message to the generation in the desert and about to enter an unknown land, and he resonates on for eternity.
It is not only Joshua who is leading the Jewish people into the land of Israel, but the Patriarchs and Matriarchs.
Everything that is uttered from our mouths obligates us to the commitment attached to it.
There are so many times in history that this story has repeated itself, albeit always under different circumstances.
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.
How ironic that the most irrational of all creatures – human beings – criticize Jewish tradition as not being rational or easily explained.
It is quite common in history that dangerous, corrupt, and nefarious political groups always claim the high moral ground for themselves.
The people’s relationship with the Creator was dysfunctional and it seems they did not share Hs program for their future.
Much of Judaism is based upon repetitive behavior.and the leaders' offerings exemplify that while the menora flame is a message to parents.
Apparently, the greater the detail, the greater the mystery that it engenders.
As important as knowledge of history is – and I consider it to be very important – history alone can ever preserve us.
Mount Sinai exemplifies the mountain that Abraham saw.
Judaism, which always is a meritocracy, nevertheless, creates an aristocracy in the priesthood of Aaron and his descendants.
Watch: During Passover, President Isaac Herzog was hosted by Rabbi Berel Wein, who knew the president's illustrious grandfather.
This week Israel reads Kedoshim and the Diaspora reads Acharei Mot. Arutz Sheva will alternate articles on both readings.
We are unable to identify the disease of Tzoraat, but we know it is a spiritual disease and thus, why the Kohen is the one who treats it.,
