by blogmaster | Sep 8, 2013 | Divrei Torah, Holidays
Some friends have come to me in recent years saying (in one version or another), “I tried my best. I raised my child with the best Jewish education I could afford. But my child went out into the world, fell in love with whoever he-or-she fell in love with, and being...
by blogmaster | Aug 1, 2013 | Divrei Torah
The book of Deuteronomy – Devarim – is different from the other four books in that it is not what one would expect. It is not a continuation of the previous book, Numbers – Bamidbar, just as the book of Exodus – Shemot is a continuation of the book of Genesis –...
by blogmaster | Jul 9, 2013 | Divrei Torah
Haftearat Matot begins with the first chapter of Jeremiah and concludes with the beginning of Jeremiah’s second prophesy. It is the first of three “Haftarahs of Rebuke” that are read in the three Shabbatot preceding Tisha Be’Av – the date of the destruction of...
by blogmaster | Jun 16, 2013 | Divrei Torah
Susan Marx calls our attention to the following post by Rabbi David Golinkin of the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem: http://www.schechter.edu/Responsa.aspx DOES JEWISH LAW PERMIT INTERNET SURVEILLANCE? Volume 7, Issue No. 8, June 2013 Rabbi David Golinkin Question:...
by blogmaster | May 30, 2013 | Divrei Torah
Holy Imperfection In one of his most Promethean poems, “The Dead of the Wilderness,” the modern Hebrew poet Hayyim Nachman Bialik depicts the generation of the world as sleeping giants, who one day will rise tempestuously to declare, “We are the last...