This week’s Torah portion speaks of the mysterious lesions that appeared on the skin of those who trafficked in gossip. Their punishment was at once severe and precise: they were cast into isolation for up to three weeks, until their affliction healed.
The Torah enumerates many forms of ritual impurity. Some …
Marriage
Having attended two weddings this month and planning to attend two more next month, marriage is no doubt on my mind. Everyone says that marriage is hard work, yet at a wedding, when an innocent young man and woman are initiated into an endless cycle of hard work, we rejoice …
Sunday: Eternal Lights
Aharon had hoped to deliver the inaugural ceremonies of the Mishkan, but when he saw that the tribal leaders were selected over him he was crestfallen. G-d comforted Aharon with the kindling of the Temple Lights. “Yours [the lights] are greater than theirs.”
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For ten days we prayed, self examined, and repented. This introspection reached its zenith on Yom Kippur, when we set ourselves and our comforts aside and focused solely on G-d. We didn’t eat or drink, we rejected creature comforts, and spent the day wrapped up in supplication.
At this point G-d …
Empty Shoes
One of the most poignant monuments in the Unites States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the mountainous display of empty shoes. Thousands and thousands of ownerless shoes; old people’s shoes, young people’s shoes, sturdy shoes, torn shoes, large shoes, little shoes and even infant shoes. All are empty; their bearers …
These past two days have been the most difficult for our people in the last fifty years. It was Simchat Torah, a time for rejoicing, yet it was a time of horror. Nearly a thousand members of our family were brutally murdered, more than a hundred were taken hostage, and …
