Brotherhood Should not be Mere Lip Service
In synagogues around the world, as we culminate the Sukkot holiday and complete another cycle of readings of the Torah, we begin once again with the first Torah section of Bereshit. In the Torah section of Bereshit, we read of G-d’s creation of the heavens and earth, the sun, moon and stars, grass, living creatures […]
Gift to Hold On To
The last Torah section of the Five Books of Moses, V’Zot HaBracha, commands a special mark of distinction. As observant Jews around the world have completed a period of introspection and penitence and are about to conclude the very joyous holiday of Sukkot, on the last day of this holiday, known as Simchat Torah, reserved […]
Forgetting
In Moses’ parting admonishment of the people of Israel before he leaves the material world, we read in the Torah section of Ha’Azinu, “You ignored the Rock who gave birth to you, and forgot G-d Who brought you forth” (Devarim 32:18). In his comments on this verse, found in his Rabbi Frand on the Parashah 2, pp. […]
Turn to G-d
In the Torah section of VaYelekh, G-d offers some parting words to Moses before he hands over leadership of the nation to his trusted student Joshua (Devarim 31:14-18): “And G-d spoke to Moses, ‘Behold, your days are drawing near to die; summon Joshua, and both of you shall stand in the Tent of Meeting, and […]
Do not Turn your Back
In one of his regular talks, the noted rosh yeshiva of Ner Yisrael in Baltimore, Rabbi Yissocher Frand mentioned an incident that occurred in McKeesport, Pennsylvania some 70 years ago on the Shabbat when the Torah section of Ki Tetze was to be read:R. Simcha Schepps was a disciple of the Brisker Rav, a student at the […]
Doing that which is Upright in the Eyes of G-d
In the Babylonian Talmud, Arakhin 16a, we learn that there are two forbidden actions, murder and lashon hara (tale bearing), for which atonement cannot be achieved through regular sacrifices – other means are necessary. The example given of the atonement for murder is the Eglah Arufah (Decapitated Calf), concerning which we read at the end of the Torah section of […]
You Shall not Recognize the Gods of Others
In the Torah section of Re’eh (Devarim 12:2-3), G-d exhorts the children of Israel upon their entry into the Land of Israel at the time populated, as discussed previously, by the bestial pagan Canaanites: “You shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which you shall possess served their gods…And you shall overthrow their […]
It is Heavenly
In the Torah section of Eikev (Devarim 8:11-18), we are warned: “Take care lest you forget the L-rd your G-d by not observing His commandments, His ordinances, and His decrees, which I command you today. Lest you eat and be satisfied and you build good houses and settle. And your cattle and sheep and goats […]
Nobody Should be Pushed Away
In the Torah section of Va’Etchanan, we find a repetition of the famous Ten Commandments presented to the people of Israel in the desert subsequent to their miraculous exodus from Egypt. These commandments begin (Devarim 5:6), “I am the L-rd your G-d, Who has taken you out of the land of Egypt.” It is to this […]
Need to Appreciate What We Have
In the beginning of the Torah section of Devarim (Devarim 1:13), we find the unusual term eikhah (how) used as Moses rebukes the people of Israel: “How can I bear your cumbrance, your burden and your strife!” In commenting on the aforementioned verse, R. Moshe Sternbuch, a contemporary leading Torah scholar, notes (Daniel Yaakov Travis, A Voice in the Darkness pp. […]