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 …
Shemini: Can Israel Survive Alone?
In 1972, Yitzchak Rabin served as Israeli Ambassador to the United States. He had an audience with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who asked him if he felt he was alone among the 120 states represented in Washington. The Rebbe explained that “am levadad Yishkon”—our nation dwells alone …
Sometimes it is hard to feel that G-d is in our corner. It feels as if Murphy’s Law is G-d’s Law. Everything that could go wrong, does, and G-d does nothing to save the day. The baby is ill, the roof is leaking, the coffee maker is on the blink, …
It is forbidden to fast on Shabbat. In fact, if we fast on Shabbat (even with halachic sanction) we must fast on a different day to atone for fasting on Shabbat. This is why the fast of Tishah Be’av—the ninth of Av, is postponed when it falls on Shabbat —as …
My Favorite Card
The flower shop sells all kinds of cards. Congratulations, sympathy, bereavement etc. My favorite is the, “Just Because” card. You can say it with flowers for all kinds of reasons. Because your wife did or said something special. Because your wife gave birth. Because your wife turned forty. …
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 …
