Articles in Purim
Shabbat Zachor: Memory Is A Bridge
Remember
Can you imagine driving down the street and suddenly realizing that you forgot where you are coming from? If you don’t know where you are coming from, you can’t know where you are going or why. Severed from the past, the present has no bridge to the future.
Purim: Reversring Assimilation
Inadvertent Slide
Purim celebrates the reversal of assimilation. The Talmud teaches that well before Haman, Jews in Persia had begun a slide into assimilation. There were Jews in the highest enclaves of commerce and government.[1] They were admitted into the most exclusive social clubs. And when the Persian king, Achashverosh, gave …
Pekudei: To Serve Him
Silver Coins
This essay is about silver coins because we will reference it twice in this week’s Torah reading.
The first reference is in the ordinary Torah reading where an accounting is given for the contributions made to the tabernacle. The Torah informs us precisely how much silver was raised and what …
Purim: G-d Wants To Be Chosen
The Happiest Day of the Year
Purim is arguably the happiest day of the year. I say arguably because it is in close competition with Simchat Torah, the day we complete our annual reading of the Torah. I am not sure which is happier, but I will say this, if they …
Ki Tisa: Humble Pride
The Perfume of Art
G-d instructed Moses on the art of making anointment oil with which Jewish kings and priests were anointed. The ingredients included spices of the finest sort: 500 shekel weights of pure Myrrh, half of it, 250 shekel weights, of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekel weights of fragrant cane …
Purim: When Hebrews Became Jews
The Jews
Today we are known as Jews, but in the Torah we were known as Hebrews and Israelites. Who are we really, Hebrews, Israelites or Jews? The more I think about it, the more I feel an identity crisis coming on.
Tetzaveh / Zachor: Combating The Skeptic
Skepticism
A debate is currently raging in campuses across the country about binge drinking. Some believe the solution lies in stricter enforcement of existing laws against underage drinking. Others argue that enforcement will simply drive the drinkers underground. They prefer to reduce the minimum drinking age and to combat the problem …
Purim: Every Moment Counts
Every Moment Counts
The Midrash tells us that the in the merit of our matriarch Sarah’s one hundred and twenty seven righteous and meritorious years, her descendant, Esther, reigned over one hundred and twenty seven countries.
