The Portion of Va’etchanan (Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11)
In this week’s portion, Moses continues his farewell speech to the people. Here, he repeatedly warns the people against falling into the trap of idolatry. He reminds them of the incident at Ba’al Pe’or, in which the people sinned and a plague wiped out thousands, and...
The First Rule of Parenting
I’ll admit it. I like sleeping in on Shabbat. So when my precious ten-year-old son began nudging my shoulder at 6:00 AM on Saturday morning, I was tempted to roll over and hide under the blankets. But I didn’t. Being a parent is not a nine-to-five job, it is 24/7 and...
Yearning for Home
In the summer of 1914, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook – the future Chief Rabbi of British-controlled Palestine and one of the leading Rabbinic thinkers of modern times – was in Berlin, on his way to an important Rabbinic conference in Frankfurt. The conference...
Why is the Nation of Israel So Small?
God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky or, alternatively, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. In fact, Jews are rare. Today, Jews represent a mere .2% of the world’s population. In the words of Mark Twain: If the...
