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Noah’s Growth toward Righteousness
The rabbis note that Noah is called a “tzadik tamim” – a purely righteous person – at the beginning of our parashah but is later referred to simply as a “tzadik” — a righteous person. Is there a difference between being “purely righteous” and “righteous”? “Noah was a purely righteous person in his generation” (Genesis…
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First letter — first lesson
This week we begin our Torah reading with the first book of the Torah, the Book of Genesis. The Rabbis ask: Why did God commence the account of the creation of His world with the letter bet [ב] rather than with the alef [א], the first letter of the alphabet? He did so because the…
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The Torah Belongs to Everyone
Each week I receive, via email, a newsletter called “Shabbat Shalom”, published by a liberal Religious Zionist movement in Israel called “Oz VeShalom”. Today I would like to share with you a contribution from a writer named Dahlia Marcus that appears in this week’s edition, which is devoted to Simchat Torah. I have translated this…
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A Prescription for Happiness
The Torah emphasizes “happiness” on Sukkot, more than with any other Festival. In fact, another name for Sukkot is “zman simchateinu” – “The Time of our Happiness”. Rabbi Aden Steinsaltz describes dwelling in a Sukkah as a kind of “prescription for happiness”. He explains that in living in the fragile, temporary shelter of the Sukkah…
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For Life or for Death
In the poem that comprises Parashat Ha’azinu, Moses asks that his “discourse come down as the rain” — ya’arof kamatar likchi. (Deuteronomy 33:2) Rabbi Alexander Zusia Friedman (murdered in Poland, 1943) writes that rain produces growth only in fields that have been plowed and planted beforehand. But in a field that has not been properly…
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The Seal of Truth
Rabbi Kruspedai said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: On Rosh Hashanah, three books are opened— one for the thoroughly righteous, one for the thoroughly wicked, and one for those who are neither wholly righteous nor wholly wicked. The thoroughly righteous are immediately inscribed and sealed for life. The thoroughly wicked are immediately inscribed and…
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Each of us a Pillar
Our Torah reading for this Shabbat begins with Moses gathering the People of Israel and proclaiming, “You stand this day, all of you, before the ETERNAL your God… to enter into the covenant with the Eternal, your God.” What follows—although not described explicitly in the Torah—is a ceremony reaffirming the covenant that God made with…
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When the Torah Re-Wrote the Rules for Eating Meat
During the forty years of Israel’s journey through the wilderness, the only meat the Israelites consumed was meat that had been sanctified and offered at the altar. Every animal slaughtered was part of a sacrificial rite, its portions divided among God, the priests, and the family who brought the offering. Eating meat was therefore an…
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Step by Step
Our Parsha begins, “When you go out to war against your enemies…” Chassidic commentators note that the verse is grammatically in the singular. They interpret this to mean that there is no greater enemy for any individual than the “Yetzer Ha-rah” – the “evil inclination” — which tempts us to sin. The verse therefore comes…
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Appoint Judges and Constables at Your Gates
Our parasha opens with the Torah instructing the Israelites to appoint magistrates and constables at the gates of every city. (Deuteronomy 16:18) Rashi explains that the magistrates judge matters of law, while the constables enforce the magistrate’s decisions— “with a stick or a strap”—until the recalcitrant party accepts the ruling. The author of Shnei Luchot…
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