The Torah describes for us in detail the visit of Yitro to the encampment of the Jewish people in the desert of Sinai. It also details for us the advice given to Moshe by Yitro as how to organize the justice system of the Jewish people. Though there is a divergence of view among the rabbinic scholars as to whether Yitro came before or after the revelation and the granting of the Torah at...
אחד הלקחים מההיסטוריה, בייחוד מזו של הסכסוכים בין העמים, הוא שיש מעט מאד, אם בכלל, ניצחונות לתמיד. כל המנצחות במלחמת העולם השנייה, למשל, הושפלו והוכנעו בדרכים רבות בסכסוכים מאוחרים יותר. הניצחונות זמניים בלבד בעיני...
One of the lessons of history, especially of the history of human ideas and conflicts, is that there are few if any permanent victories. All of the victors for instance of World War II have been humbled and defeated in various ways and conflicts afterward. Victories are only temporary in the eyes of history as are empires and superpowers. The Lord mocks our pretensions of human...
שירת הגאולה שירת הים הגדולה של משה ובני ישראל היא החלק המרכזי בפרשת השבוע. השירה הזאת איננה אירוע חד-פעמי בהיסטוריה. היא נשארה חלק מתפילת השחרית של היהודים בבתי הכנסת אלפי שנים. שירת הים עוסקת בכוחו של הקב"ה, בקיום...
The great song of Moshe and of Israel forms the centerpiece of this week’s parsha. The song was not a one-off historical event. It has remained a part of the morning services of the synagogue prayers of Jews for millennia. The song concentrates on God’s power, on Israel’s always miraculous survival and on the perfidious behavior of the wicked enemies of the Jewish people. God’s...
One of the well known statements of Midrash about the Exodus of Israel from Egyptian bondage is that the Jewish people, our ancestors, were redeemed from Egypt in the merit of the righteous Jewish women of the time. We tend to judge Jewish righteousness purely in terms of tradition, ritual and observance and though that is certainly true it is not the entire truth. Jewish women, then and...
People who are released from bondage or any other type of incarceration usually find their adjustment to freedom difficult if not even very problematic. More often than not the look on their newly freed faces is one of bewilderment – of being in a dazed condition – rather than one of pure joy. Past unpleasant and painful experiences are not easily forgotten, or sublimated and...
The sections of the Torah that we are reading these weeks concern themselves with the well known but ever insightful story of the enslavement and subsequent exodus of the Jewish people in long ago Egypt. Jewish tradition has taught us that the narratives that appear in the Torah are not to be viewed as merely a recital of past events. Rather they stand as indicators and guideposts for the...
Moshe faces a crisis of faith at the onset of this week’s parsha. He apparently has made no headway with and little impression on the Pharaoh of Egypt. The situation of the Jewish slaves has worsened considerably and the leaders of the people place blame upon Moshe for that situation. So, Moshe is apparently unsuccessful with the Pharaoh and unsuccessful with the Jewish people all at...
יש ביהדות ובהלכה היהודית ערך שדורש מכל יהודי להפגין רגישות כלפי רגשות הזולת. הערך הזה לא מוגדר במונחים הלכתיים כמו אתרוג, למשל, או סוכה. הוא קיים בצורה הרבה יותר אמורפית, בתחום שנועד להיות תרבותי, כמעט, מובן מאליו....
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