Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on Sukkot: Smile
G-d wants us to be happy.
G-d wants us to be happy.
Avodah Zarah prevents man from being fully human.
The High Holy Days aren’t about cheap sentimentality.
Life is more than the absence of death.
Our very first task upon entering the Promised Land involved outreach to non-Jews.
Marriage is much more than a physical union.
A Jewish king’s purpose starts where that of a non-Jewish king often ends.
The Talmud tells us three ways to assess character. The three festivals show how this works.
Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Eval teach us that our environment isn’t determinative.
Our ancestors found G-d’s law difficult to obey, but G-d never lowered His standards.
Torah knowledge without practical application “has no value.”
We aren’t the only people to whom G-d assigned a land.
Tolerance is lauded in the modern West, but it isn’t always a virtue in Judaism.
The Torah calls for joy and serenity – in this world. A “suffering servant” is not the Jewish ideal.
Do we appreciate how often G-d saves us without us even knowing it?
The almond tree' symbolizes the spirit of the tribe of Levi. How?
There is a surprising reason that Moshe changed the name of one of the spies and not the others.
Today, we see the people who claim to represent democracy looking down with contempt at the masses. That's an anti-Torah way to act.
That depends....
Helping people is wonderful, indeed obligatory., but there are principles involved.