The Heart of the Matter: Free Will and the Story of Pharaoh
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz People are complicated but God has us figured out, as the prophet Jeremiah said: Most devious is the heart; It is perverse—who can fathom it? I Hashem probe the heart, Search the mind— To repay every man according to his ways, With the proper...
Are Science and Fear of God Compatible?
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz “Fear of God is the beginning of knowledge and understanding.” There are several sources for this piece of wisdom. King Solomon, the wisest of the wise, said it in Proverb (1:7). Solomon clearly learned this important maxim from...
The Four Cups of Wine
At the Passover Seder, Jews are obligated to drink four cups of wine while leaning to the left. The Mishnah (Pesachim 10:1) states that even the poor are obliged to drink the four cups. Each cup is imbibed at a specific point in the Seder. The first is for Kiddush...
Why Aaron’s staff turned into a serpent
In this verse, God commands Moses and Aaron to confront Pharaoh and demand that he let the Children of Israel leave Egypt. He warns them that Pharaoh will tell them to perform a sign in order to prove that they were indeed sent by God. He, therefore, tells Moses to...
