Menachem Mirski PhD

Thoughts on Parashat Pesach

R. Yehuda says: When the Israelites stood at the Red Sea, one said: “I do not want to go down to the sea first,” the other said, “I do not want to go down to the sea first,”… While they were standing arguing, Nachshon the son of Aminadav jumped up first and went down into the water and fell into the waves…

At the same time Moses was standing and reciting long prayers before God. Then God said to him, “Moses, my friend is sinking in the water and the sea is closing in on[…]

Thoughts on Parashat Metzora

The Torah portion for this week, Metzorah, talks about various kinds of afflictions, plagues etc. that can make our life very difficult, if not unbearable. To describe these phenomena the Torah uses the word negah (pl. negaim), which is the same language the Torah uses to describe Egyptian plagues.[…]

Thoughts on Parashat Tazria

The ancient Israelites, as well as the Sages of the Talmudic era, generally believed that diseases, including skin afflictions, are a result of sin – an improper or immoral behavior. Separating people from the community for this reason was aimed at stopping the spread of the disease – our ancient ancestors knew that fact very well; what they didn’t understand was the biological mechanism that caused the spread. Additionally, the entire ancient Jewish ‘philosophy of medicine’ was entirely focused on preventive measures and avoidance. (contrary to the Greek model that looked for the[…]