Resources
At What Cost
Earlier this summer, before the fighting began in Israel, I led a birthright trip. From June 16th-26th, there was one issue on the minds of nearly every Israeli I met: the kidnapping of Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrah, the Israeli teens who were taken on June 12th. Throughout the trip, we knew nothing...
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Thirsty for Justice
“The sky above your head will be copper and the earth beneath you iron. HaShem will give the rain of your land over to dust, and sand from the sky will descend on you until you are destroyed.” (Deut. 28:23, 24) This week’s parashah contains some of the most terrifying verses in the Torah. Curses...
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For the Honor of Torah: A Rabbinic Response to Rabbi Dov Lior
For the honor of Torah: A rabbinic response to Rabbi Dov Lior
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Repetition, Compulsion, and Night Vision
Many of us are war-weary and disheartened this week as we open the final book of Torah—Devarim or Deuteronomy. The Rambam called this book Mishneh Torah (repetition of Torah), because so much of it contains Moshe’s retelling of the stories that our ancestors lived out in the 40 years’ walk through the Wilderness. The aged...
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A Tale of Two Brothers
The reunion was to take place the next morning. Each of the brothers, alone within his own encampment, struggled with his own fears – and his own memories. Esau, the older, was sure that his younger brother would be up to his old tricks. He remembered how he had done everything his father had asked...
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As Israel Ages, Is It Coming Into Its Own?
In this week’s Torah portion, we read the following words about the first Jew ever to set out for the land we call Israel: “V’Avraham zakein ba bayamim” – “Abraham was old, advanced in years.” Torah scholars point out that the phrase is redundant – if he’s old, we already know he’s advanced in years. ...
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The Dead and the Living in Hebron
For millennia, we Jews have been burying our dead outside the city limits, in caves, in fields and on hillsides. Just recently, for example, I stood with a crowd of people in a field, waiting to bury a friend, cousin, classmate, brother, son. Together we, the living, placed one of our own into the earth....
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