The world through the lens of Torah
Misunderstanding and its Consequences This week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1-124:18) has one of the most often quoted yet misunderstood verses in the Torah. And this misunderstanding has had serious consequences about how non-Jews view the “Old Testament” and Orthodox Judaism.
This week’s Torah portion, Vaera (Exodus 6:2-9:35) begins in a very confusing way… וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹקים אֶל־מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי יְקוָק׃ And God (ELO-HIM) spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am YHVH“. Did you catch that? God, whom the Torah calls ELO-HIM, is speaking to Moses, and telling Moses that He, ELO-HIM is YHVH […]
In this week’s Torah Portion (Exodus), there a quite a few references to “Hebrews.” Moses is called a Hebrew child by Pharoah’s daughter (Ex. 2:6) God of the Hebrews (Ex. 5:3) etc. It’s obvious that the text is referring to the enslaved Tribes of Israel when it uses the term Hebrew. Aramaic Translation What’s fascinating […]
Anyone I have every spoken to who was in Israel at the time of the 1967 Six Day War told me that when it ended, the whole country was buzzing with the huge Miracle that had occurred. Even secular newspapers didn’t shy away from using the “M” word (miracle). The American Military could not believe […]
The Festival of Chanukah falls in the Hebrew month of Kislev. Shorter days and longer nights symbolize spiritual darkness and it’s our job to bring spiritual light back into the world during this season. Two thousand two hundred years ago the Syrian Greeks controlled the Land of Israel and feared a national uprising by the […]
Esav (Esau) and Yaakov (Jacob) were twins. The first to be born was Esav, and he came out red (adom), and hairy all over, therefore they called his name Esav (Asui means fully formed). (Gen 26:25) Later, when he grows up he will be given another name, Edom, (which means red). So we might think […]
This week’s Torah portion begins with our Matriarch Sarah’s death and Avraham’s purchase of the Machpelah Cave in Hebron as a family burial plot. (Chaiye Sarah Gen: 23) The Torah goes into great detail about the negotiations between Avraham and Ephron who was the owner of the field and the cave complex in it. The […]
One of our subscribers shared this lovely photo of Jerusalem on her FB page. (I think she did it by mistake). It is from a Palestinian Arab propaganda site called “Days of Palestine” and the captions says, “Good morning from Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Palestine. (sic)” It’s ironic that this appears in the week […]
Does an observant Jew really have to believe that the world is just under 6000 years old? Here’s one approach to resolving the Biblical and Scientific Ages of the Universe.
Many years ago, at a talk given during Elul at Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem, the Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Noah Weinberg zt’l posed the following challenge: “Over and over again throughout the Rosh Hashanah prayer service we ask God that He rule over the entire world and that all humanity should recognize His Kingship. We know […]