When should I wear a garment in order that I, not others, should notice it? The answer comes at the end of Parshat Shelach Lecha. In the third paragraph of the Shema, we were given the mitzvah for men to wear Tzitzit. Why are tzitzit called by that name? Many …
Here are two key features of outstanding Jewish leadership… They are presented to us in Parshat Beha’alotecha. The Leviim, the ancient Levites, were the spiritual leaders of our people. The Torah says ‘Ki Netunim Netunim hemmah li’. God pronounces they will be presented, they will be presented to me. Why …
That is something I think about every single day. Ever since I stood in the safe rooms of Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel, recalling how so many precious lives were taken there. And why were these safe rooms not so safe? In our Torah reading for the festival of Shavuot …
Barmidbar: Surely the Torah didn’t need to use that term ‘Bemidbar’? Yet at the commencement of this week’s portion which is at the beginning of a new book of the Torah, we are told ‘Bemidbar Sinai’. It was not just ‘in Sinai’, but ‘in the wilderness of Sinai’, that the …
Parshat Bechukotai Through what merit is the Jewish people saved? One answer is presented in Parshat Bechukotai. Within the context of the tochacha, a long tragic list of curses which God forbid might befall the Jewish people, Hashem tells us ‘Vezacharti et-beriti ya’akov’ – I will remember my covenant with …
The source is in Parshat Emor. The Torah tells us ‘Venikdashti betoch bnei yisrael’ – these are the words of Hashem – ‘I will be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel’. Here we are being told about a community of people worshipping Hashem, but how do we …
That’s how many people relate to the Torah’s regulations concerning mixtures. Now, we are familiar with mixtures of meat and milk, and we know that you cannot prepare such mixtures, nor are you allowed to eat them. There is Kil’ayim – that is the grafting of different seeds, and …
After death we say holy things. That is a translation of the titles, of the three portions of the law, which we commence reading this Shabbat. ‘Acharei Mot Kedoshim Emor’, ‘Acharei Mot’ – after death, ‘Kedoshim’ – holy things, ‘Emor’ – we should be saying. It is so fitting that …
It’s called ‘Shabbat HaGadol’ – ‘The great Sabath’ and it always takes place on the Shabbat prior to our celebration of the festival of Pesach. Now, as we know, there are many reasons presented by our commentators, for why we name this Shabbat, ‘HaGadol’. But I would like to make …
