2017 — what a year for women! Well, maybe not all women (sorry Hillary), but it was definitely a year of breaking the cliché fairy tale storyline and of redefining the character of a “leading” lady. Between Israel’s very own…
Taste of Torah: The Morality of Collective Punishment
Should ordinary citizens in a society be held accountable for the negative actions of their leaders? This type of question is consistently discussed by sociologists, moral philosophers and military strategists alike. One can find thousands of pages, written over the…
Taste of Torah: Battle It Out or Can You Dig It?
This week’s Parsha is the only one that is dedicated to our second patriarch, Isaac, yet to a causal reader of the Torah text he remains largely an enigma. Mostly passive, the only noteworthy episode of Isaac’s life described by…
Taste of Torah: A Million Questions
Does it help a husband and wife to decide not to argue? Or, in the long run, is it better that they agree to disagree? So substitute “God and Israel” for “husband and wife.” In Vayera we are told that…
Taste of Torah: Go For Yourself
Sometimes we need to go for ourselves, to get to ourselves.
Taste of Torah: Creating a Window in your Life
Moti Zilberstein is an undergraduate student at UCLA In the very beginning of this week’s Torah portion, G-d tells Noach, “You shall make for yourself a “Tzohar” [usually translated as “a window”] in the Ark” (Genesis 6:16). But what does…
What is Judaism?
Last week, I was interviewing for a job at a pluralistic Jewish institution and was asked the following question: “About 10-15% of our students are not technically Jewish, so would you feel comfortable teaching them as if they were Jewish?”…
Taste of Torah: The Significance of Settings
(Photo: Nepenthes) With Shavuot just a few days away and as we begin studying the book of Bamidbar, the book of Numbers, we are presented with an implicit question regarding the nature of receiving of the Torah. We all know…
Taste of Torah: Making Time Count
Perhaps one of the most unique features characterizing Shavuot is the extensive “Omer” counting that leads up to the holiday. It is fascinating that the Torah does not prescribe a specific calendar date for Shavuot but rather dictates that it…
Taste of Torah: Building the World
By: Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan In less than 24 hours, Jewish communities throughout the world will come together to read Parshat Shemini. The portion stands as the climax of a long story that began in Exodus, chapter 25. In our portion,…