Articles in Elul
A Tale of Two Desires
Life is a tale of two desires. Sometimes, I think I know what I want, and I think that if I only had that, I would be happy. Then the darndest thing happens. I get what I thought would make me happy, and I am still not happy. What does …
With G-d’s Help
The Torah tells us to appoint judges and guardians at the gates of our cities. The city’s gathering place was usually at the gates, making it the fitting place for the courthouse and police station. However, Jewish scholarship has long maintained that there is a parallel teaching here. We are …
A Month of Refuge
Refuge is discussed often in the Torah. When a Jew killed another inadvertently, he was required to flee to a city of refuge, where he was given asylum from the victim’s relatives. These cities were established throughout the land of Israel to ensure that inadvertent killers had sufficient and easy …
Re’e: The Pivot
In the course of life, there are always moments of pivot. A moment when we recognize that we have strayed from the proper path, and we pivot—reverse course and head in the opposite direction. The moment of pivot is, at the risk of sounding cliché, pivotal. It isn’t merely a …
Ki Tetze: A Winning Strategy
When you go to war, you need a winning strategy. It doesn’t matter how strong or weak your army is, success depends on the strategy. If the generals devise a winning strategy, you have a chance of winning the war. If they don’t have a winning strategy, you have lost …
Re’e: The Missing Festival
The festival of Sukkot falls on the fifteenth of Tishrei, two weeks into the new Jewish year. Accordingly, the Torah tells us, in Exodus 34:22, to celebrate Sukkot at the turn of the year. However, there is a discrepancy. Eleven chapters earlier, Exodus 23:16 told us to celebrate Sukkot at …
Shoftim: Unity
Reports and Plans
This week we enter the month of Elul, the last month and culmination of the entire year. By Jewish tradition, Elul is a month of reflection and introspection. We review our behavior of the past year and generate an end of year report. Just as you receive an …
Nitzavim Vayelech: The Key is Education
Returning The Keys
When the marauding Babylonian army broke into the Temple they found priests going about their sacred duties in ecclesiastic devotion. Some prepared meal offerings, others stoked the altar’s flames, yet others inspected logs to ensure their perfection. Outside the battle raged, but inside, the worship continued without distraction.
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