Ha’azinu-Shabbat Shuva – When God Punishes the Wicked
When G-d Punishes the Wicked “He will avenge His servants’ blood. He will bring vengeance upon His foes” (Deuteronomy 32:43). The nations’ hatred for the Jewish people will summon upon them G-d’s well-justified zeal. Zechariah prophesied, “I was zealous for Jerusalem and Zion with a great zeal. And I burn with great anger at the […]
VaYelekh2 – An Excuse to Indulge
An Excuse to Indulge “When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I swore to give their ancestors, and when they eat their fill and grow fat, they will turn to other gods and worship them, provoking Me and breaking My covenant” (Deuteronomy 31:20). We know in general […]
VaYelekh – Torah and Politics
Torah and “Politics” The Talmud (Shabbat 138b–139a) states, “In the future the Torah will be forgotten by Israel.” The prophet Amos proclaims, “They will run to seek the word of the L-rd but won’t find it” (Amos 8:12). How do we reconcile these statements with the verse in our parsha that declares the Torah “will […]
Nitzavim2 – Greatness vs Mediocrity
Greatness vs. Mediocrity There is no more fundamental axiom in Judaism than the one that decrees that man has free will, the ability, the right, and the obligation to choose for himself the path down which he will walk his life. “See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and […]
Nitzavim – Is the Holocaust Really Inexplicable
Is the Holocaust Really Inexplicable? “But if your heart turns away so that you will not hear, but will be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you this day that you will surely perish…” (Deuteronomy 30:17–18). Whenever anyone asks how G-d could have allowed the Holocaust to take place, […]
Harassment of the Soviets: Political Logic
The recent spate of violent attacks on Soviet officials and installations in the United States has produced the worst crisis in U.S.-Soviet relations since the late ’60s and early ’70s. They have produced violent Soviet counterattacks against U.S. citizens in Moscow and the result has been that détente has been strained more by a handful […]
Jewish Sweat
There was an interview recently in one of the Israeli newspapers with a striking dockworker. The particular strike itself is not at issue here, nor even the fact that the man belongs to a group of workers whose income is quite high by local standards, surpassing by far that of most individuals in white-collar and […]
And Then There Were Three
Do you want to know why the campaign for Soviet Jewry has gone to bed, slumbering away in indifference and apathy? Does the question of why Jewish activists appear to be no longer in the news ever cross your mind? Do you and your friends sometimes say to each other: Why is it that the […]
A Mezuza
There is no mezuza on the Old City of Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate (Shaar Sh’chem). And it is important that every Jew understand why other major entrances to the Old City, such as Jaffa Gate, DO have mezuzot while this one does not; why there once WAS a mezuza at Shaar Sh’chem (it was taken down […]
Hijackings
The reverberation of the Arab hijackings has still not subsided either in Israel or elsewhere. It is not so much that few expect that they have seen the end to Arab kidnappings and plane seizures. What irritates a great many Israelis is the reaction of certain freed hostages and their public statements to the press. […]