Shalom, Yom Kippur has come and gone, we’ve deprived ourselves, fasted, and done tshuvah for our sins. Now it is time to rejoice. If there was ever a time for rejoicing and happiness it is after the most serious and somber days of the year (which also does not require deprivation from joy). The Rabbis actually nicknamed […]
Shalom, Yom Kippur is the most powerful and power-less day in Israel. It is the one day, more than Shabbat, Pesach or Tisha B’Av, even more than Yom Haatzmaut or Yom HaZikaron, when the Zionist dream can truly be realized. It is the true embodiment of collectivity and affords us a once-a-year opportunity to understand […]
אַתֶּ֨ם נִצָּבִ֤ים הַיּוֹם֙ כֻּלְּכֶ֔ם לִפְנֵ֖י יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֑ם רָאשֵׁיכֶ֣ם שִׁבְטֵיכֶ֗ם זִקְנֵיכֶם֙ וְשֹׁ֣טְרֵיכֶ֔ם כֹּ֖ל אִ֥ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ טַפְּכֶ֣ם נְשֵׁיכֶ֔ם וְגֵ֣רְךָ֔ אֲשֶׁ֖ר בְּקֶ֣רֶב מַחֲנֶ֑יךָ מֵחֹטֵ֣ב עֵצֶ֔יךָ עַ֖ד שֹׁאֵ֥ב מֵימֶֽיךָ׃ (דברים כט:ט-י) “You stand this day, all of you, before Adonai your God—your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the people of Israel, your children, your wives, even […]
“וְהָיָה֙ כִּֽי־תָב֣וֹא אֶל־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁר֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לְךָ֖ נַחֲלָ֑ה וִֽירִשְׁתָּ֖הּ וְיָשַׁ֥בְתָּ בָּֽהּ׃” “When you enter the land that Adonai your God is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and reside in it.” (Deut 26:1) The 15th-century rabbi and commentator Don Yitzhak Abarbanel teaches that the weekly Parsha of Ki Tavo begins here in […]
Shalom, It was a question that took me by surprise. “Why do you care so much about democracy anyway,” a friend asked me during a break between heated arguments at the last World Zionist Congress. I wasn’t used to the question, as most people I talk to generally agree that democracy – while not perfect […]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and his wife Sara Netanyahu visit Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, West Bank on 4 September 2019 [Kobi Gideon/Anadolu Agency] Shalom, Just prior to hopping on a relatively impromptu flight to meet with Britain’s newest and potentially shortest-serving Prime Minister Boris Johnson, PM Netanyahu ended a two-decade-long hiatus and visited […]
Shalom, As you come into the Land, Moses instructs us, observe all the laws and rules that I have set before you this day. Just like the story that Genesis tells us, that before creation there was תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ – chaos which led God created the Earth with a certain sense of order, this week we read […]
הָיָ֣ה ׀ עֵ֣קֶב תִּשְׁמְע֗וּן אֵ֤ת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים֙ הָאֵ֔לֶּה וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֥ם וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם אֹתָ֑ם וְשָׁמַר֩ יְהוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ לְךָ֗ אֶֽת־הַבְּרִית֙ וְאֶת־הַחֶ֔סֶד אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֖ע לַאֲבֹתֶֽיךָ׃ (דברים ז:יב) “And if you do obey these rules and observe them carefully, Adonai your God will maintain faithfully for you the covenant that God made on oath with your forefathers:” (Deuteronomy 7:12) Shalom, It’s really very […]
“…וּרְאֵ֣ה בְעֵינֶ֑יךָ כִּי־לֹ֥א תַעֲבֹ֖ר אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּ֥ן הַזֶּֽה׃” (דברים ג:כז) “…Look at it well, for you shall not go across yonder Jordan.” (Deut. 3:27) Shalom, Moses was not allowed to enter the Land. Moses! The central character of the entire Torah the most important person of the Five Books of…well, you […]
