What’s the best advice you can give to a good person? I’ll tell you the answer that the prophet Isaiah gives. In the Haftarah for Parshat Eikev, he declares ‘Shim’u elai rodefei tzedek mevakshei Hashem’ – listen to me, all those of you who pursue justice, who love Hashem, all …
The source for this is a passage of the Torah we all know by heart, it’s in the first paragraph of the Shema, which we read in Parshat Vaetchanan. ‘Veahavta et Hashem, Elohekha, bekhol levavkha, ouvkhol nafshekha, ouvkhol meodekha’ – You must love the Lord your God with all your …
From the Parsha of Devarim we have wonderful words of encouragement for the Jewish people right now. Moshe declared ‘Hashem elohei avotechem yosef aleichem kachem elef pe’amim’. May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase your numbers 1000 times over. The Midrash intriguingly, tells us that this is a …
What’s the best way for us to make people to want to come to Shul? In Parshat Pinchas, the Torah reveals to us details of the major festivals and the term that is used for a festival is ‘Mikra Kodesh’. Rav Shimshon Rafael Hirsch translates this term as being a …
People will most likely be influenced by you, if they know that you love them. In Parshat Chukat, we’re told about the sad passing of Aharon, the High Priest, and the reaction of the people to his passing was quite extraordinary. The Torah tells us ‘vayivku oto shloshim yom kol …
When should I wear a garment in order that I, not others, should notice it? The answer comes at the end of Parshat Shelach Lecha. In the third paragraph of the Shema, we were given the mitzvah for men to wear Tzitzit. Why are tzitzit called by that name? Many …
Here are two key features of outstanding Jewish leadership… They are presented to us in Parshat Beha’alotecha. The Leviim, the ancient Levites, were the spiritual leaders of our people. The Torah says ‘Ki Netunim Netunim hemmah li’. God pronounces they will be presented, they will be presented to me. Why …
That is something I think about every single day. Ever since I stood in the safe rooms of Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel, recalling how so many precious lives were taken there. And why were these safe rooms not so safe? In our Torah reading for the festival of Shavuot …
Barmidbar: Surely the Torah didn’t need to use that term ‘Bemidbar’? Yet at the commencement of this week’s portion which is at the beginning of a new book of the Torah, we are told ‘Bemidbar Sinai’. It was not just ‘in Sinai’, but ‘in the wilderness of Sinai’, that the …
