Getting Drunk “Noah, the tiller of the soil, planted a vineyard” [Genesis 9:20]. Was he the first to discover the secret of producing wine? Rashi explains that Noah took with him saplings of grapevines and figs to the ark, but he does not draw a conclusion that before the flood Noah was a drinker. It […]
Shabbat Shuvah (Haazinu) 5775 / 26-27 Sep.2014
Why did our tradition assign this time of year as the season of repentence and forgiveness? Rabbinic tradition claims that Moses went down with the second set of Tablets of covenant on the 10th Tishrei, so on that date all realized that the sin of the Golden calf was forgiven. The Biblical text does not mention […]
Introduction to Malchuyot – Coronation of God
R.H. Musaf 5775 (Sep.25, 2014) The Shofar served two different functions in ancient times: It served as the siren warning of an approaching danger: war, flood, wild beasts… It also served as the trumpet calling all to rejoice with a new king or with a new year… All these different purposes are still imbedded in […]
God’s partners –Evening of Rosh HaShanah 5775
In my recent visit in Israel I met a man who has studied and researched for years the sounds that birds use to communicate… I asked him if the birds have any sound which expresses the idea of the ‘creator’ or ‘God’ of nature. He replied: Nothing of that sort! Their languages are very practical, […]
Ki Tetze – The Body and the Soul
5th September 2014/10 elul 5774 The mutual influence of the soul on the body and the physical condition of a man on his soul is not a ‘discovery’ of modern medicine. In many issues the Torah expresses this mutual influence. One of them is the Torah’s attitude to skin diseases, which are called by the […]
Bo -5773
“This month is for you the first of months, it is the first month of the year” [Exod. 12:2]. According to our Sages, this was the first mitzvah that the Israelites received as a people, and the legal core of the Torah begins here! Beginning a new calendar by fixing the first month of spring […]