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 …
Skepticism
A debate is currently raging in campuses across the country about binge drinking. Some believe the solution lies in stricter enforcement of existing laws against underage drinking. Others argue that enforcement will simply drive the drinkers underground. They prefer to reduce the minimum drinking age and to combat the problem …
This week we will read a combined Torah portion. The first is called Matot, the second is called Masei. Matot, at least in the context of this passage, means tribes. But mateh also means a stick. Matot means sticks, plural. Masei means journeys. The Torah delineates the forty-two journeys our …
What unique qualities did Moses have that convinced a nation of oppressed slaves that he was their redeemer?
Eight years ago, Rabbi Shalom Mordechai Rubashkin was convicted on multiple charges of bank fraud, and sentenced to twenty-seven year in prison plus a restitution fine of 31 million dollars. Last Wednesday, the last day of Chanukah, 2017, Rubashkin’s sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump and the Jewish community …
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 …
