A friend recently posted on Facebook that he felt angry while reading the laws of the “beautiful captive woman” in that week’s parasha. Considering the abuse suffered by female hostages in Gaza, he found it unbearable to read a passage in the Torah that seemed to condone similar circumstances...
Yisro was a searcher. He had seven names, seven identities; he constantly reinvented himself in developing his life philosophy…
A martini is a cocktail of vermouth and gin. (Less traditional drinkers — call them "the modern orthodox" — substitute vodka for gin.) Most vermouths, and those used in martinis, are fortified white wines with added ingredients such as spices, bark, and botanicals. Ratios of vermouth to gin vary. A wet martini has more vermouth than gin. But most martinis tend to be dry, with more gin than…
Toward the end of bentching, we recite a pasuk from Tehilim (37:25):…
Having concluded the tochachah, the Torah exhorts B’nai Yisrael to keep all of the laws without deviating from them. To that end, the Torah commands: “You shall not add to the word which I command you, and you shall not subtract from it, that you may keep the commandments of Hashem your God which I command you.” (Dev. 4:2.)…
According to halacha, a Jew must forfeit his life rather than violate any of the three most egregious sins: murder, sexual depravity, idolatry. Ramban writes that, in principle, every Jew should sacrifice his own life rather than violate any mitzvah at all…
According to a fashionable view, you shouldn’t try too hard. Everyone should put in their hishtadlus — some minimal effort — but no one should believe that this effort affects the outcome. Man depends on God’s grace and God’s goodness for success…
Is eating meat moral? In gan eden, God prohibited Adam Ha-Rishon from killing or eating any animals. (Ramban, Bereishis 1:29; Sanhedrin 59b). Adam Ha-Rishon existed in a state of nature: he did not create a community, feed a family, or have a government…
Hamlet is a play. Paradise Lost is a poem. The broken window is a parable. What sort of book is the Torah?
Is authority binding in error? The Torah commands us to follow the instructions of the Sanhedrin Ha-Gadol: “do not deviate from what they tell you, neither right, nor left.” (Devarim 17:11). According to Chazal, this pasuk affirms the authority of the Sanhedrin even if they err. (Sifri 155). This is hard to swallow. Why should we follow a mistake?
Why does the Torah command animal sacrifice? Many people do not like the idea of animal sacrifice. To modern sensibilities, it appears alien at best and barbaric at worst. Why would anyone want to slaughter a goat and sprinkle its blood on an altar?…
Why are the dinim of the mikdash recorded twice in the Torah? According to Ramban, ma'amad har Sinai had two functions: (1) the conversion of B’nai Yisrael and (2) the establishment of a covenant between God and B’nai Yisrael such that God would dwell in the mishkan…
Even after leaving Egypt, Bnai Yisrael were slaves. God redeemed them through midas ha-rachamim. (Ramban, Shemos 15:6 and 32:11). Midas ha-din requires human agency: man will receive what he works for…
After describing the choshen and the stones which adorned it, the Torah describes the Urim v'Tumim: “You shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Tumim; and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before Hashem: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel on his heart before Hashem continually.”…
Why do we have a mishkan? When the Jews left Egypt, they were in a limbo status. On the one hand, they were descendents of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, who had previously made covenants with God…
“God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.’” (Shemos 20:1-2). These pesukim constitute the first of the aseres ha-dibros. However, the phrase “I am Hashem your God,” does not seem to be much of a command at all. It is just a statement of fact. What, exactly, is being commanded here?…
Why did God harden Pharaoh's heart? Ramban writes that the Ten Plagues served to demonstrate God’s Might to the Egyptians…
How did Egypt — the center of commerce and culture — become a tyranny? Pharaoh recognized a threat: a local ethnic group which outperformed, and therefore threatened, his people. Pharaoh knew that his people felt the same way. Indeed, Egyptians had long hated the Jews before they moved to Egypt. (See Bereishis 43:26 and 46:34.) Pharaoh’s solution was to kill all of the Jewish boys…
“I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will give to your seed all these lands. In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, because Avraham listened to my voice, and kept my requirements (מִשְׁמַרְתִּי), my commandments (מִצְוֺתַי), my statutes (חֻקּוֹתַי), and my laws (וְתוֹרֹתָי)…
Some men can’t get no satisfaction. But Avraham was no such man. “Avraham gave up the spirit, and died in a good old age: an old man, satisfied.” (Genesis 25:8). Ramban explains the phrase זָקֵן וְשָׂבֵעַ (an old man, satisfied) to mean that, upon his death, Avraham wanted for nothing.