Shabbat Vayeytzey: Initiative

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Shabbat Toldot: Esau or Ishmael

Last week, we read about how Isaac and Ishmael came together to bury their father. And in fact, they lived together at the same place, Be’er Lechai Roi. Their coming together seems to have been complete. Read more

Unimaginable pain

The unimaginable pain on seeing the evidence of children tortured, limbs cut off and burnt to death, screams for an explanation. Why did God let this happen? Read more

Once a Jew, always a Jew?

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Yom Kippur thoughts

Rabbi Raymond Apple shares his thoughts. Read more

Teshuvah is for everyone

No moment in Jewish history was as breathtaking as the revelation at Sinai. Read more

Shabbat Ki Tavo: The Land of Israel

“When you enter the land that your God is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it, you shall take the first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that your God giving you, and put them in a basket and go to the place that God chooses and to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, “I acknowledge this day before your God that I have entered the land that swore to our fathers to assign us.” ( Deuteronomy 26:1-2). Read more

What is one to make of Albert Einstein’s statement that “The Jewish God is simply a negation of superstition”?

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What is the meaning of life?

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Shabbat Behar & Behukotai – The Good the Bad and the Ugly

The book of the Torah called Vayikra or Leviticus, is also called the Book of Purity. Read more

Shabbat Tazria & Metzorah: Healthy in body and mind

The chapters of the Torah that we are reading now are concerned with health and what happens when our bodies do not function effectively or normally. Read more

Q. Why do (Orthodox) synagogues not allow the use of organ music?

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Shabbat Vayakhel Pekudei: Repetition is Good

It is an interesting phenomenon that the major events of the Torah that play a crucial role in the life of the people from a philosophical point of view are repeated in slightly different ways. Read more

Why?

Innocent worshippers were shot outside a synagogue. Read more

Shabbat BeShalach: Women at Sea

Rashi, commenting on this week’s amazing events at the Red Sea, quotes the Midrash ( Mechilta 15:22) that at the Red Sea, God was seen by the humblest maidservant in a more powerful way than even the greatest of the prophets. Read more

Does Judaism have any list of banned books?

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Can I reconvert to Judaism?

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Shabbat Shemot: Who is God?

Throughout the Torah, God has been referred to anthropomorphically. Read more

Shabbat Vayeytzey: Dreams and Fears

Jacob flees his parents’ home because he fears that Esau will kill him for taking the blessing from Isaac. Read more

Was the fruit of the Tree of Life from which Adam and Eve ate really an apple?

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On the other hand

Without a doubt, one of the most evocative highlights of Sukkot (Tabernacles) is the massed blessing of the Kohanim at the Kotel. Read more

Shabbat Ki Tavo: Rewards and punishment

The Torah this week contains blessings and warnings. Read more

Shabbat Devarim: Optimism despite it all

The Book of Devarim, the last book of the Torah, is dominated by the personality of Moses even more than the previous three books. Read more

Shabbat Shelach Lecha: Grasshoppers

Moses was instructed by God to send men to go on a tour of the Land of Canaan. Read more

Shabbat Kedoshim: About sex

The part of the Torah we read this week, Kedoshim,  contains more moral and ethical laws than any other part of the Torah, that you will be familiar with. Read more

Shabbat Acharei Mot: Arrogance

Previously in Leviticus Chapter 9, the two sons of Aaron, Nadav, and Avihu had watched and participated in the dedication of the priests and the tabernacle. Read more

Failed priests and prophets

There seems to me to be a permanent state of conflict in all religions between religious authority and individual spirituality or mysticism. Read more

Shabbat Tazria: Rosh Hodesh Nisan – Purity

Having dealt with the sacrificial system and its ceremonials, the Torah now turns to human beings and how they should take steps to care for their physical as well as spiritual lives. Read more

Shabbat Pikudei: The Messiah

The term Mashiach is usually associated with the apocalyptical idea of a Messiah who will change the world to make it a more peaceful and honest place. Read more

Shabbat Vayakhel & Shekalim: Amazons and the Oral Law

There are many ways of looking at the Bible, as history, theology, literature, and archeology. Read more

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