OL MALCHUT SHAMAYIM THE YOKE OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (GOD) I have been thinking about the phrase for a while. We see it in the first of the b’rachot preceding the Shema. Its acceptance is said to be implied in the first two paragraphs of the Shema. It is generally meant to be the
Mattot-Massei A man dies and heads toward the proverbial pearly gates. He is met along the way and told he is being given a choice between spending eternity in Heaven or in Hell. His first instinct is to choose heaven, but the messenger tells him things are not necessarily what he had been taught to
I would like to talk about justice, or really what might seem injustice, in certain life-or-death decisions God makes in the Torah. I am concerned with four apparently untimely deaths which, on their face, seem profoundly unfair. These are the killing of Nadaav and Avihu, sons of Aaron on what should have been a magnificently
GETTING RID OF CHAMETZ On erev Pesach, at about 11:00 AM, we gathered at the shul’s driveway to burn the scraps and crumbs of chametz we had collected for the occasion. This activity and the accompanying prayers and statements are the final act in cleaning out chametz in preparation for the Feast of Unleavened
WHAT IS SO BAD ABOUT COVETING? Every year, some time in mid-winter, we read parshat Yitro which, most famously, contains the “Aseret HaDivrot” what most of the Judeo-Christian world calls the Ten Commandments. It has been said that all the other 603 mitzvot can be derived from these ten utterances. It has also been said
In the third parasha in the book of B’reishit (Genesis) God tells Avram (chapter 12 verse 1) “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land I will show you”. The language in the Torah lech l’cha, “Go… for or to yourself,” not just lech, “go.” So, what is the
The last few verses of Psalm 146, which we recite every morning as part of P’sukei D’Zimra tell us Adonai frees the bound Adonai gives sight to the blind Adonai raises those bowed down, and loves the just Adonai protects the stranger, supports the widow and the orphan, But frustrates the desire of the wicked.
My wife and I, along with several other people from our community, traveled to Israel recently for a wedding. Most of the people reading this essay have heard all or parts of the story of this trip/adventure. The war with Iran broke out. Our eight-day trip became eighteen days. The wedding almost did not happen.
How are Megillat Ruth and Shavuot connected? There are several holidays when one the “megillot” included in the Ketuvim section of the TaNaKh, (the Hebrew Bible) is read in conjunction with the holiday. Most notably is the reading of the book of Esther during Purim. We also read Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) at the end of Sukkot
Passover (Pesach) is an intriguing, and, in some ways conflicting) holiday. Some people get so absorbed in the physical preparations that they forget the real religious aspect of what we are observing and celebrating. All the folks (sadly, mostly women) who are responsible for the pre-Pesach cleaning, shopping and food preparation feel so “enslaved” by
