When responsibility saves lives: Oiri and the lesson of Eglah ArufahEver since October 7th, Israel has been flooded with stories of courage and selflessness. Some of these stories lift our spirits because lives were saved, while others break our hearts because the hero did not survive. Ori Danino was one of those heroes. He was […]
Writing in Stone, Not in Pencil There is something striking about this week’s parsha, Re’eh. Moses begins by addressing the lofty destiny of the Jewish people — their choices, their covenant, their future in the Land of Israel. Then, almost abruptly, the Torah interrupts Moshe’s subject and shifts to something seemingly unrelated: the festivals. Shabbos, Passover, […]
The Praying Thief: Faith or Self-Deception? Imagine someone involved in financial fraud and actually asking G-d for help in the enterprise. It seems illogical but the person tells himself, “I support important charitable causes and with this endeavor I will be able to donate a wing to a hospital in Israel. Please, G-d, allow me […]
The Jew You Are, Not Just the Jew You Do When we think of mitzvos, we often picture actions: lighting like lighting Shabbos candles, eating matzah, sitting in a Sukkah or praying, each of which is a concrete behavior with a beginning and end. You do them and then you move on. But there are mitzvos that are […]
The Faithful City Became a Killer’s Den: How the Holy Became Hollow [I want to acknowledge and thank Rabbi Dovid Katz, PhD, Professor of Jewish History at Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland, for directing me to the sources mentioned in this Dvar Torah]Every year, the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av is called Shabbos Chazon—the Shabbat of Vision—named […]
