Thoughts on Parashat Ki Tetzei When you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not put off fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will require it of you, and you will have incurred guilt; whereas you incur no guilt if you refrain from vowing. (Deut 23:22-23) We can distinguish three kinds of […]

Time passes by inexorably; it seems as though the year 5778 has begun only yesterday, and already since last week we’ve been in the month of Elul, the month preceding the festival of Rosh Hashanah. Jewish tradition tells us that in the month of Elul we should reflect on the past year and take stock […]

Thoughts on Parashat Ree [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Every seventh year you shall practice remission of debts. This shall be the nature of the remission: every creditor shall remit the due that he claims from his fellow; he shall not dun his fellow or kinsman, for the remission proclaimed is of the […]

Thoughts on Parashat Ekev [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“It is not because of your virtues and your rectitude that you will be able to possess their country; but it is because of their wickedness that the LORD your God is dispossessing those nations before you, and in order to fulfill the oath […]

August 3rd, 2018 – This week’s Sidra from the Torah, from the Parasha ‘Ekev’ which starts in Deuteronomy Chapter 7 verse 12, presents us with a terrible, deep, existential theological dilemma. Although I have no answers to share with you, I do not want to avoid the question – but it is truly a major […]

When I was 12, I was taught at the history class at my primary school that some Polish surnames ending with ‘ski’ are associated with a noble heritage. Excited, I came back home to ask my parents whether we also came from a noble family. My dad sighed and asked me to sit down in […]