This week’s parsha opens with perhaps the most famous trifecta of storylines — the captive woman, the two wives and the wayward son (Deuteronomy 21:10) — that, according to the teachings of the Akivan school of thought, tie into one…
Tag: dvar Torah
Dvar Torah Pinchas: Fasting for the Korban Tamid
Guest Post by Rabbi Evan Hoffman During the Babylonian captivity (586-515 BCE), Jewish exiles commemorated the destruction of the Holy Temple and the First Commonwealth with a series of four fasts. We cannot be certain what particular aspect of Judah’s…
Dvar Torah Chukas: Unrevealed Revelation
Someone approached me to tell me how nice of a piece I had written about this week’s parsha, and I responded that I hadn’t written anything yet! But when they told me that they had thoroughly enjoyed my tie in…
Dvar Torah Beha’aloscha: reVisions
The Menorah plays a central role in the opening verses of this week’s parsha and the Akivan/Ishmaelian divide plays a central role in understanding the popular midrashic literature touched upon by Rashi and the other primary commentators.
Dvar Torah Emor: Moses and the Blasphemer
The Akivan view purports that the entire Torah was given to Moses on Sinai — general principles along with all of the particulars — but this appears to come into conflict with the closing segment of this week’s parsha.
Dvar Torah Tazria-Metzora: Inclusion Criteria
The notion of there being ten commandments — that is, the Ten Commandments — permeates Judeo-Christian religious philosophy, despite the fact that the Old Testament is, for the most part, full of many more directives.
Dvar Torah Vayechi: Jacob Immortal
The start of a new year is a time for resolutions not because there’s anything intrinsic about January 1st that begets rejuvenation, but because there’s an artificial freshness that accompanies the annual changing of the calendar year — as such,…
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…
Don’t think, Don’t feel, Don’t ask
Gone are the days where the Chassidic tales were understood though the lens of Martin Buber’s classic folktales. Most people understood these fables were Buber’s romanticisms of Eastern European folk heroes. And somehow things evolved into a new type of story: a fusion…
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,…
Shelach Dvar Torah: All A Matter of Perspective
A Guest Post By E. Fink The next in a weekly dvar Torah series by Rabbi Eliyahu Fink, Rabbi at Pacific Jewish Center in Venice Beach California. This week we read a story of Bibilical proportions. The Jewish people are…
Beha’aloscha Dvar Torah: Three Is A Magic Number
A Guest Post By E. Fink The next in a weekly dvar Torah series by Rabbi Eliyahu Fink, Rabbi at Pacific Jewish Center in Venice Beach California. This week we read Parshas Beha’aloscha. Aside from being the most difficult parsha…
Bamidbar Dvar Torah: A Book Called Numbers
A Guest Post By E. Fink The first in a weekly dvar Torah series by Rabbi Eliyahu Fink, Rabbi at Pacific Jewish Center in Venice Beach California. The fourth book in the 5 books of Moses will be read in…