Tag: bible
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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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God Have Mercy
Our parasha this week speaks about the mitzvah of taking up arms against an Israelite city that has become so spiritually corrupt that all its citizens worship idols. (Deuteronomy 13:13-17) The Israelites are commanded to destroy such a city and put its inhabitants to death. If the Israelites follow this commandment, and the soldiers do…
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Understanding Jacob’s Name
As we read in the Book of Genesis, (25:19–26) our matriarch Rivka gives birth to twins. The first to emerge is covered with hair, and the Torah tells us, “They named him Esau,” a play on the Hebrew word se’ar, meaning “hair.” The second child appears grasping his brother’s heel, and he is named Yaakov…
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An Israel to Celebrate
When I spoke regularly from the pulpit, I would often talk about Israel. My pulpit, I determined, would be a place where Israel’s goodness, promise, and achievements were emphasized. Heaven knows, my congregants could hear criticism of Israel from many places, but my pulpit would be a place of “ahavat Yisrael” – love of Israel.…
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Finding Ones Voice
This week I share a teaching from The Sefat Emet, Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (1847–1905), one of the most influential Hasidic masters of the late 19th century. He comments on the very first verse of the Book of Deuteronomy, our parsha hashavuah, our Torah portion for this week: “These are the words that Moshe…
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The Perennial Struggle for Justice and Equality
One storyline in the PBS series Downton Abbey centered on who would inherit the Grantham estate and title. The Earl of Grantham, Robert Crawley, and his American-born wife, Cora, had three daughters: Lady Mary, Lady Edith, and Lady Sybil. Under English law, however, the estate and title had to pass to a male heir when…
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Transforming Darkness to Light
This week’s thought for Shabbat is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Philp Lazowski, who passed away on June 18 at the age of 96. Rabbi Lazowski was a childhood survivor of the Holocaust. He immigrated to this country with his father and brother after the war and was ordained as a rabbi in 1962.…
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A Judaism without Israel?
In his great legal code, the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides praises the discipline of silence: “One should always cultivate silence and refrain from speaking, except about matters of knowledge or things necessary for one’s physical welfare. It was said that Rav, the disciple of our saintly teacher Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, never uttered an idle word in…
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The Enduring Power of Study
Our Torah reading this week begins, “If you walk in My ordinances and fulfill My commandments…” before proceeding to list the blessings that follow. Rashi explains that “walking in My ordinances” refers to diligent Torah study, while “fulfilling My commandments” refers to performing mitzvot. The Talmud makes a striking distinction between these two categories. Although…
Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph 