If there ever was a ‘Patriarch Cup’ of popularity among Abraham, Isaac, Jakob and Joseph, four most prominent male characters in the book of Genesis, Isaac would be bound to land in fourth place. Sounds controversial? Let’s consider it for a moment. When we think about other patriarchs, we immediately remember stories of amazing or, […]
Judaism and Pronatalism
Thoughts on Parashat Vayera
A lot of our political and cultural debate today pertains to societal norms. However, I believe that, in our times, there is a common confusion about the nature and purpose of societal norms. Therefore, I need to make some statements that sound quite obvious for many of us: the societal norms have not been created to indulge the individuals; they have been always to serve the society, as a whole, to facilitate its survival, reproduction, demographic and cultural growth as[…]
Why and for What Purpose God Chooses Us?
Thoughts on Parashat Lech Lecha
This week’s Torah begins with God’s act of choosing Abram as the Divine servant:
יהוה said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.[…]
The Climate Change That Caused the Flood
Thoughts on Parashat Noach
The story contained in our Torah portion for this week can be seen as a metaphor of a great catastrophe in which species were decimated or doomed to total extinction… Only a few of them were to survive, a few individuals of each gender, in order to reproduce and prevent the animal life cycle on the earth from a complete extinction. Does it sound completely unreal today?[…]
The Position of Man in the Universe
Thoughts on Parashat Bereshit
God’s unity and oneness is a fundamental theological principle in Judaism. Shema Israel Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad! – these are the words we recite twice a day, everyday. There are, however, passages in the Torah that seem, at first glance, to question this Divine unity:[…]
Who Will You Invite to Your Sukkah?
One of my favourite Sukkot traditions is Ushpizin, a Kabbalistic custom of ‘inviting’ spiritual ancestors of the Jewish people to the Sukkah on every day of the festival. In Orthodox Judaism, the guest list was limited to males: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David. Each of these guests was supposed to represent a […]
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