Articles in Concepts
Shemini: Silence is Golden
Aaron
When Aaron experienced the tragic loss of two sons, he responded with silence. He didn’t accept with silence, he replied with silence. The Torah says, “Vayidom Aharaon,” Aaron fell silent.[1] At first he cried, but later, fell silent.[2] It wasn’t a passive silence, he wrestled with himself to achieve it.
For …
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 …
Ki Tisa: Family
Two Subjects
The instruction to keep Shabbat appears in the Torah[1] immediately before the story of the golden Calf. On the face of it the two subjects are unrelated, Shabbat is a celebration of G-d and worship of the Golden Calf was an act of apostasy. Yet their juxtaposition must be …
Mishpatim: Learn to Absorb
Absorb It
hortly after giving the Ten Commandments at Sinai, G-d summoned Moses and said, “These are the laws that you should place before them.” He then taught him the Torah, commencing with the laws of slavery, “When you acquire a Hebrew slave…”[1]
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Yisro: Prophecy and Torah
The Prophetic Chain
Do you believe in prophecy? G-d is infinite, we are infinitesimal. Does He really deign to talk us?
This was the big question that Jews faced when they approached Mount Sinai. They knew Moses was a man of G-d and believed that G-d listened to him, but they were …
Beshalach: From Many One
Unity
A subtle and often overlooked aspect of the Red Sea split is that many particles of water coalesced into a single wall. From many one, is a common theme in the human quest. We find it in science, logic, art and elsewhere. The idea is always to take disparate pieces …
Bo: Hebrew Months
First Month
The Jewish calendar is confusing. The Hebrew months have names, but they are Persian in origin. Why do Hebrew months have Persian names? Another question: These names are not employed by the Five Books of Moses or the Books of the Prophets, when were they adopted into our culture?
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Vaera: Determination
Hard Heart
When Moses and Aaron first came to Pharaoh they made a reasonable request, let my people go for three days so they could worship G-d in the desert. Pharaoh denied this request and dismissed the miracles that Aaron performed to prove the authenticity of their message. At this point …
