This week’s parshah is the beginning of the book of Devarim: “These are the words that Moshe spoke to all the Israelites across the Jordan?” ((Deuteronomy 1.1.)) We have wandered for 40 years in the wilderness waiting for this moment of final redemption. We are about to cross over into the Promised Land and Moshe [...]
There may be no biblical expression more painful than the cry, “eicha!” Literally translated as “how!” this term conveys a sense of utter despair. This word most famously begins the biblical book also known as “Eicha” or “Lamentations,” which constitutes a prolonged eulogy for the destroyed Jerusalem. We will read this book [...]
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, For the Holy One has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up — And they have rebelled against Me! An ox knows its owner, An ass its master’s crib: Israel does not know, My people takes no thought.
The book of Isaiah begins with strong [...]
This week’s portion, Matot, deals with promises and vows. Last year at this season I asked my congregation whether the words neder, shavuah, and isar rang any bells for them…and then I sang the first line of what is perhaps the most haunting melody in our lexicon: “Kol nidrei, v’esarei, v’charamei, v’konamei, v’chinuyei, [...]
There is a fascinating symmetry to this week’s double portion Mattot-Massei, which both begins and ends by focusing on women. At the beginning of Mattot we read about the circumstances in which a woman’s own vows, specifically her religious promises to God, may be ratified or annulled according to the will of her father (if [...]
Biblical prophets typically have a rough time. Elijah is effectively chased out of the Kingdom of Israel after being threatened with a death sentence. After attempting to avoid his mission, Jonah is swallowed by a large fish, regurgitated and forced to prophecy against Nineveh. Hulda foresees and forecasts the future destruction of Judah, while Moses’ [...]
Mattot begins with two parshiyot that share virtually nothing in common, except for their misogyny. Both of these sections seem to call out for the most resistant reading. However, I think that if we take these two segments together it is possible to weave our way around the patriarchy and find a path [...]
Humans bear grudges. As much as we might like to see ourselves as forgiving and understanding, most of us still have trouble letting go of past insults and offenses.
Jewish history offers countless examples of nations or individuals who have, in some way, hurt individual Jews or the Jewish community as a whole. [...]
There’s a spectacularly interesting review in this week’s nation by Martha Nussbaum on Catherine Mackinnon’s new book Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues.
I’m not going to say much about either the review or the book, because I think you should go read the review yourselves, but the reason I mention it is because the [...]
A common theme of feminist scholarship is “the search for a useable past.” Among the most popular “useable pasts” reclaimed by Jewish feminists is the story, told in Parshat Pinchas, of B’not Tzlophechad, the daughters of Tzlophechad. In this story, five sisters approach Moses to contest the established inheritance laws, which only permit [...]
“You’re moving where?” they asked. “What in the world would even let you consider moving to Salt Lake City? Don’t you know that Utah is a redder state than Texas? How can you possibly feel like you’ll ever belong in Utah?” My friends were more than a little incredulous when I told them three years [...]
Torah is life. It courses with an elusive energy that can sustain the reader, but it is also fed by the reader who brings a wealth of personal experience and insight to the text. The Torah is a powerful piece of literature but it becomes something more when it is read in light of our [...]
Rabbi Chayim David Halevy, the former Chief Sefardi Rabbi of Tel Aviv, was a Kabbalist who wrote many volumes of wise commentary.
In R’ Halevy’s 9 Volume series of She’elot and Teshuvot (Halakhic questions & answers) entitled Aseh L’chah Rav in Vol. 5 he begins the book with a section entitled “Kontrus Torah Min Hashamaim.” [...]
It seems to me that what angered Pinchas was not this couple -as the commentators suggest- having sex, but that a local power player went to someone of equal rank amongst the Midianites and brought her there to stir up the crowds against Moshe during this moment of great panic and fear. That makes this an episode much more like that of Korach than a rant about intermarriage.