Our father Avraham and our mother Sarah are the paradigm Jews. Their lives and the events that occurred to them are symbolic of the story of the Jewish people throughout the ages. This is certainly the meaning of the well known phrase of the rabbis that READ MORE →
In this week READ MORE →
The rabbis of the Talmud have taught us that all new beginnings are fraught with difficulties. This week READ MORE →
There are songs and there are songs. The song of Moshe and the people of Israel at Yam Suf is a song of victory and exultation. It is read in the synagogue with a special haunting melody that accompanies it. It is recited every morning in our daily prayer service and it is referred to every evening in the Maariv service. It is a song of hope and triumph. The song of Haazinu, which is read in this... READ MORE →
Moshe READ MORE →
There is a cynical but unfortunately accurate statement rife in the ranks of diplomats that treaties are made to be broken. We here in Israel have plenty of experience with that viewpoint and assessment of international life. However, in this week READ MORE →
This week's parsha deals with the frighteningly accurate prediction of the awful fate of the Jewish people over its long exile. The tochacha chillingly forecasts the horrors of the Holocaust and of all of the previous destructions, persecutions, pogroms and disasters that have befallen the Jews over the long centuries of dispersion. The Torah itself in a forthcoming parsha asks the obvious... READ MORE →
The Torah discusses the problems of war in this week READ MORE →
A lawless society is the worst of all curses. The rabbis in Avot cautioned us to pray for the welfare of government for without the presence of its restraints and police powers, READ MORE →
The word ekev, which is the name of this week READ MORE →
