When words take wing, they modulate into song. That is what they do here in Ha’azinu as Moses, with the Angel of Death already in sight, prepares to take leave of this life. Never before had he spoken with such passion. His language is vivid, even violent. He wants his final words never to be forgotten. In a sense he has been…
…Torah is the rain that feeds this diversity, allowing each of us to become what only we can be. [1] Sifrei, Ha’azinu 306. [2] Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, II:40. [3] See Elias Canetti, Crowds and Power (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973). [4] Exodus Rabbah 29:1. What Jewish values and ideas are contained in the idea of respecting that everyone is different? …
…that are difficult to reconcile with an ethic of non-revenge: I lift My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever, when I sharpen My flashing sword and My hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me . . . Rejoice, O nations, with His people, for…
…by them when they repeatedly failed to live up to his great expectations. Each age has had its own image of Moses. For the more mystically inclined Sages Moses was the man who ascended to Heaven at the time of the giving of the Torah, where he had to contend with the Angels who opposed the idea that this precious…
…The world is waiting for you. VAYELECH: Whatever your achievements, there is always a second mountain to climb, and it may turn out to be your greatest legacy to the future. HA‘AZINU: If you want to change lives, speak to people’s feelings, not just to their minds. VEZOT HABRACHA: We are mortal; therefore make every day count. We are fallible;…
…unique leader in Jewish life. He had done something very unusual: he had turned his chassidic group outwards, sending them to campuses and small communities, places that had never encountered that kind of Orthodoxy before. It is hard now, half a century later, to realise that almost no one had engaged in Jewish “outreach” before. He was a genuine pioneer,…
…Character and our Generation (19 minute Extended BBC NewsNight Interview) Cultural Climate Change – Rabbi Sacks at The Chautauqua Institution (55 minutes) Further Articles from Rabbi Sacks From Renewal to Responsibility (Pamphlet published September 2001) A Palace in Flames (Covenant & Conversation Lech Lecha) Taking Responsibility (Covenant & Conversation Bereshit) The Leader’s Call to Responsibility (Covenant & Conversation Ha’azinu) The…
…was sure of was his own existence. For anything else – the existence of physical objects, let alone other minds – even he had to invoke God. I for one do not have enough faith to be an atheist.[2] To be an atheist you have to have faith, either in humankind as a whole, or in yourself. How anyone can…
…Masei Devarim (Deuteronomy) With the book of Deuteronomy, Devarim, the entire biblical project becomes lucid and reaches its culmination. Deuteronomy is the last act of the Jewish people’s drama before becoming a nation in its own land, and it forms the context of all that follows. Devarim Va’etchanan Eikev Re’eh Shoftim Ki Teitse Ki Tavo Nitzavim Vayelech Ha’azinu Vezot Habracha…