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 …
Korach, who resented direction, led a popular rebellion. Like all rebels he purported to take up the cause of the people. And like all rebels, his cause was neither real nor beneficial to the people.
Korach, “assembled against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, …
True love can only emerge when two people perform acts of love for each other. I am not talking about the shallow love that people describe when they talk about falling in love. That kind of love is skin deep. I am not even talking about the kind of love …
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 …
Examine again, is a central feature of Torah study. We derive this from the words “examine, he examined”[1] a description of an examination made by Moses.
On the inaugural day of the Tabernacle, Moses left instructions for a particular offering, and when they went unheeded, he investigated the matter. However, he …
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 …
