Sunday, September 16, 2018
Living here in Israel allows one to gain a deeper appreciation of the holidays of the Jewish calendar. In their deepest sense, they were all meant to be observed here in Israel. Perhaps that is what our rabbis intended when they cryptically said that the observance of the Commandments of the Torah that the Jewish people have fulfilled and continue to practice in the Diaspora is really a training exercise for their true adherence when the Jewish people return to the land of Israel.
This observation is certainly true regarding the holidays of Israel and is especially true regarding the holiday of Sukkot, that we are about to celebrate. Perhaps no other holiday of the year so symbolizes...
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Sunday, September 16, 2018
All Jewish history, past, present and future, is on parade before our eyes and ears in this final section of the great oration of Moshe to the Jewish people before his passing. The greatness and pettiness, the holiness and decadence of the people are in the immortal words of this week’s Torah reading. But it is the first word of that reading that conveys the entire idea of Moshe’s message.
The word ‘haazinu’ means not only to listen and to hear what is being said but it also conveys a deeper meaning of the message being conveyed. If one is deaf to the internal messages of Torah and of Jewish history, if one is unaware that one is being addressed and called to attention, then no...
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