This week’s Torah portion opens with Jacob’s dream, and the verses emphasize that Jacob awoke from his sleep frightened and in surprise. Rashi explains that it was not the prophetic contents of the dream that startled him, but rather, it…
Author: DRosenbach
Passaic Periodontist
Dvar Torah Toldos: Keeping the Faith
Rashi brings down the Talmud (Yoma 28b) asserting that Abraham observed the entire Torah and more, and ostensibly, this can be extended to include the other patriarchs as well; this is pretty much what we all learn in 3rd grade,…
Dvar Torah Chayei Sarah: Supermodel Tzadekes
Rashi’s first question on the Torah looks into the biblical rationale for waiting until Exodus 12 to reach the first commandment. An alternative answer to his question is often built around a comment in the Talmud (Avodah Zara 25a), which…
Dvar Torah Lech Lecha: Extra-Mosaic Authorship of Biblical Text
Over the past few years, I’ve come to appreciate a pervasive guided uniformity among Orthodox Judaism — something I like to call Uncle Moishy Judaism. And while I’m sure that many others have sensed this over the years, I think…
Simchas Torah 2011
“Moshe emes v’soraso emes” — “Moses is truthful and his Torah is truthful” Many people will be singing these words over and over (and over and over) this Thursday evening, which is why it’s of great concern when an apparently…
Succos 2011
“Achas sha’alti me’es Hashem osa avakesh shivti b’veis Hashem kol y’mei chayai lachazos b’noam Hashem u’levaker b’hechalo,” “One thing I asked of God — it is this that I seek: to dwell in the house of God all the days…
Rosh Hashana 2011: Heads and Tails
We are taught that we eat the head of a fish so as to enter the year on a positive note, rather than a tail, which would suggest a year of inferior quality. How is this different from sticking pins…
Dvar Torah Ki Savo: 22/8
The ratio of the circumference of a circle to its radius can be approximated in the form of a fraction as 22/7, although it is more commonly expressed in decimal form. According to the talmud, 22/8 is the fraction that…
Dvar Torah Ki Setzei: Fate
Fate is a difficult thing to discuss because there are many conflicting sources regarding Judaism’s position on predetermination.
Dvar Torah Shoftim: (Mis)Direction
We find in this week’s parsha one of the most poorly understood verses in the entire Torah. In fact, it’s so misunderstood that it makes heretics smile with satisfaction and the people who watch the heretics smile wonder why they…
Dvar Torah Re’eh: Temporal Temple Sandwich
Moses begins this week’s parsha with an emphasis on the Temple and its centrality — both physically and figuratively — in the future of Jewish life in the Land of Israel.
Dvar Torah Eikev: I Think, Therefore I Love
This week will be my seventh wedding anniversary, so I figured I’d discuss something related to love.
Dvar Torah Va’eschanan: SzHaAcMhOoRr (b’dibbur echad)
If one takes a moment to consider it, it’s really quite extraordinary that the Torah includes information about the giving of the Torah — it sort of reminds me of an Escher drawing.
Dvar Torah Pinchas: Warning (Spoilers)
What exactly did Moses receive on Sinai? Some, like R’ Akiva, advance a maximalist approach and claim that Moses received everything, while others, like R’ Ishmael, advance a minimalist approach and assert that Moses received merely general categories of the…
Dvar Torah Balak: Freedom of Speech
Fresh off of last week’s discussion of what God can’t do vs. what He won’t do, I thought it would be interesting to discuss, somewhat, what man can and can’t do.
Dvar Torah Chukas: Battling Concealment
With all the back and forth between Jack Black’s Ignacio and Steven the tortilla chip thief about God vs. science, one is easily led to believe that the two are mutually exclusive — but that is not the case.
Survey
Every week, I see hundreds of page views for the divrei Torah but there’s frequently only 10 comments or so, and half of them are my responses (as my wife likes to remind me when I quote to her the…
Dvar Torah Shlach: Remember to Remember to Remember…
At the conclusion of this week’s parsha, we find the third and final paragraph of the Shema Yisroel prayer, and although Jews are bidden to recite it twice daily, like most prayers, unfortunately, the tendency is to say it without as much…
Shavuos 2011
Shavuos commemorates the divine national revelation at Sinai and the receiving of the Torah by the Israelites from God in 1312 BCE.
Dvar Torah Naso: Hearing Voices
This week’s parsha concludes with a statement about Moses’ communicatory habits with God — apparently, after the construction (or at least the dedication) of the Tabernacle, the vast majority of communication would occur only at the Tabernacle.
Dvar Torah Bamidbar: Idealism vs. Realism
A few weeks ago, I discussed the Torah’s exclusion of those with particular physical deformities from Temple service, proposing the notion that the divine approach to humans (via the Torah) can be explained as sometimes conforming to one of idealism,…
Dvar Torah Bechukosai: Prophecy
This might be my last posting — it has, after all, been prophesied that the world will end tomorrow about 2 hours before Shabbos is over in NYC.
Dvar Torah Behar: Conditional Guarantee
For the past year or so, I’ve been reading the government welfare blessings in English while the guy reads it aloud in the shul at which I daven and just tonight, I discovered a correlation with something from this week’s…
Dvar Torah Emor: Establishing a Reputation
As a result of my father’s mild cerebral palsy, he suffers from a moderately atrophied right hand and walks with a somewhat disharmonius gait. Had we been of the priestly caste, my father would have been ineligible for Temple service…
Dvar Torah Kedoshim II: Jewish Time
A particular distinction of Judaism is the towering role that time plays — for instance, everyone knows that the schmorg is removed precisely one hour after it is put out, and that keeps most people more or less on time.