It is difficult to feel two contradictory emotions at the same time. Conflicting, if not contradictory, emotions such as joy and sadness,…
"According to the days that you spent exploring the land, forty days, a year for a day, you shall carry your sin and you will know My actions…
Our Torah encompasses all aspects of life: it regulates our existence from the day we are born until the day we die, and from the moment we awake…
With old age comes knowledge of life that can only be gained by experience. Thus, Jewish law insists that all elders, even non-observant or non-…
The centrality of the land of Israel is a basic tenet of Jewish thought. Our Sages note that mitzvot performed outside the land of Israel are little…
Bilaam, the heathen prophet, recognized that the strength of the Jewish people was in their high level of modesty. “How goodly are your tents,…
Judaism is a religion that celebrates life. "Better one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than the entire life of the world to…
It is in times of crisis that effective leadership is most important—and the years spent wandering in the desert represented the first major…
How can two people witness the exact same events and yet offer two distinct and different reports? This question is one that jumps out as we examine…
A Jew is commanded to recite one hundred blessings each and every day (Menachot 43b). We need constant reminders to ensure that we recognize the…
Sefer Bamidbar opens with names and numbers, a theme that continues throughout the book; hence its name, Chumash Pekudim, the book of counting.…
Twice a year, before Shavuot and Rosh Hashana, we read the tochecha, the list of dire consequences that will, G-d forbid, befall the Jewish…
The Torah was wary of the employer-employee relationship. Almost by definition, an employee is not much different than a slave; both are told what to…
For those who write divrei Torah, the next few months will be a bit challenging and will demonstrate our geographical frame of reference.…
“Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, ‘I am the Lord your G-d: Do not follow the ways of Egypt where you once lived, nor of…
The first of Nissan and the first of Tishrei mark the beginnings of the Jewish year. The solar aspect of our calendar—representing the fixed…
When tragedy strikes there is a tendency to search for some rational explanation as we subsequently attempt to find meaning and a degree of comfort,…
“Moshe then inquired, darosh darash, about the goat of the sin offering, and it had been burned” (Vayikra 10:16). Judaism has always…
Excitement and consistency: We tend to view these terms as contradictory. Man gets excited over discovering new things and views variety as the spice…
“The laws of Shabbat…are like a mountain being held up by a thread” (Chagigah 10a). Shabbat is the pivot around which Jewish life…
“G-d declared to Moshe, Go down [from the mountain] for the people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt” (Shemot 32:7…
Symbols play a crucial role in self and group identification and affect almost everything we do. Be they roses or a diamond ring, symbols can…
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot” (Shemot 21:24). Perhaps no Biblical verse has generated as…
Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe lei'mor is the most commonly occurring verse of the Bible. While it is usually translated as, “G-d spoke to…