Our parsha commences with a reward and punishment classic; first, the reward: In the future, as a consequence of your heeding these laws, and your guarding and fulfilling them; Ad-noy, your G-d, will guard for you the covenant and the kindliness that He swore to your forefathers. He will love you, and bless you, and […]

By the Jews, justice happens quickly. For example, on the rare occasion when a capital punishment is invoked, the gap between decision and implementation is less than 36 hours, nor do lashes and general payment/repayment obligation extend for a long period of time. Apparently, death row, protracted justice and seething jails teeming with unrepentant convicts […]

Unfortunately, it still remains the annual rite of a Jewish summer, a jarring contrast to the free-spirited summer fun that occupies Western society; we commonly refer to it as the three weeks, – that saddest period of our calendar – one that commemorates our national tragedies, most significantly, the destruction of the two batei mikdash […]

Jews live in calendar dialectics, oscillating between two Jewish New Years (Tishrei/Nissan) and two Judgment Days (Rosh HaShanah/Yom Kippur). Perhaps the greatest Jewish storyteller of all time, the Dubner Maggid, (Rabbi Yaakov Krantz, d. 1804) was once asked: Why do we celebrate both Simchat Torah (the completion of the annual Torah cycle) and Shavuot (commemorating […]

One afternoon, Bill Clinton was sitting in his office when his telephone rang. “Hello Mr. Clinton,” a heavily accented voice says. “This is Yankel down in Tel-Aviv Israel. I am ringing to inform you that I am officially declaring war on you!” .. “Well, Yankel,” Bill replies, “This indeed is important news! Tell me, how […]

A triplet of deviation plays a starring role in our parsha [Chapter 13]: First the false prophet [navi sheker] If a prophet arises among you or a dreamer of a dream, and he gives you an omen or a miracle, .. And the omen or the miracle happens— the one he told you about—saying, “Let […]

Tisha B’av and Devarim (the parsha) make appropriate bedfellows. Chazal find in Moshe’s eicha complaint echoes of Yirmiyahu and future lamentations. Thus the prevalent minhag of chanting that verse in the sad eicha tune. Devarim, Moshe’s retrospective is all about what could have been and what went wrong. Finally, it is a parsha that sows […]

1. Shavuot night is like a wedding without worrying about the color scheme – a night of pure encounter. Torat Hashem Temimah Meshivat Nefesh – Torah heals the soul. Pekudei Hashem Yesharim Misamchei Leiv. It brings great inner joy. So why do we stay up all night? It’s like that first taste of love. Picture […]