A Brief Guide of Laws, Practices, and Alternatives Dear Readers, This series will deal with themes we would rather not deal with. Talking about sickness, the end of life, burial, and mourning, reminds us of our frailty and weakness. It is understandable that the prevalent attitude to the laws concerning…
When the leper heals, he brings two live birds, cedar, crimson wool, and hyssop. The priest will slaughter one bird onto a clay vessel filled with fresh water. He will then dip the live bird, with the cedar, crimson wool, and hyssop, in the mixture of blood and water. He…
Of all the questions surrounding the ten plagues of Egypt, none has captured the interest of commentators throughout the ages as much as the question of how can God disrupt Pharaoh’s decision-making process, and then hold him accountable for it. This question fascinates believers because it has direct application to…
Messianic Wars in Midrash – Parashat VaEra In Exodus 8:2 we read of the second plague of Egypt, frogs: ותעל הצפרדע ותכס את ארץ מצרים. The literal translation of these words is: The frog [singular] came up and covered the land of Egypt. The use of the singular form to…
We are taught to believe that the text of the Torah is extremely economic and succinct, and that Torah and redundancy are mutually exclusive. We therefore cannot help but wonder why the Torah is so verbose when describing the construction of the Tabernacle. To answer this question, I think we…
Many believe that the sin of Sodom was Sodomy. That word was coined after the events described in Genesis (19:1-10): The messengers came to Sodom and were greeted by Lot, took them home and offered them food and shelter. As they were getting ready to sleep, the townspeople besieged the…
Unearthed from the pages of the Torah, presented here is a correspondence between Yosef and Yaakov following their reunion at Goshen. [Yosef]: Dearest Aba, I am back at the palace, overjoyed and emotional after our long-awaited reunion. But, with all the joy, some disturbing thought keeps me up at night,…
Introduction In the famous list of the thirty-nine categories of actions forbidden on Shabbat, the last one is carrying from one domain to another. The first step in understanding this category is defining the domains. The rabbis mentioned three domains: Public Domain – רשות הרבים, Private Domain – רשות היחיד,…
“Mom, Dad, there’s something I need to tell you!” – parents dread this sentence. Over the years, I have counseled many parents, and have been very closely involved with many others as family, friends, and congregants. I do not like generalizations, but I think it would be fair to say…
For Parashat VaYikra The rebuilding of the Temple, and the reestablishment of the sacrifices in it, are central themes in our prayers and rituals, including the Haggadah, but have you ever tried to visualize yourself making the pilgrimage to that Third Temple, with the animal for sacrifice in tow. Imagine…