…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…
…you actually live, they see you living. The Gemara says, vechi ma lo eshpat lo KaKadosh Baruch Hu im shoftim min Haar umin hatzoref. What difference does it make to a HaKadosh Baruch Hu the way we shecht an animal? Elah, says the Gemara, lo nitan Torah elah tzaref bahem et habriyot. God gave us the Torah to refine us…
…all great and wonderful to quote the Rosh haYeshiva from 100 years ago, but ein lecha shoftim ela eina. Each generation has to make its own chatzotzrut. Each generation has to provide its own judges because we are the timeless but set in time. What is spirituality for this generation? For the Facebook generation? We are experimenting with this. We…
…others to grow with them. Shoftim: Learning and Leadership Leadership at its highest transforms those who exercise it and those who are influenced by it. The great leaders make people better, kinder, nobler than they would otherwise be… A good leader knows: hate the sin but not the sinner. Do not forget the past but do not be held captive…
A sequence of verses in this week’s sedra gave rise to a beautiful Talmudic passage – one that has found a place in the siddur. It is among the readings we say after the Evening Service on Saturday night as Shabbat comes to an end. Here is the text on which it is based: “For the Lord your God is…
Though few of us are destined to be Kings, Presidents or Prime Ministers, there is a general principle at stake. Leaders learn. They read. They study. They take time to familiarise themselves with the world of ideas. Only thus do they gain the perspective to be able to see further and clearer than others. To be a Jewish leader means…
The word “Torah” means law. But it also means: teaching, instruction, direction, guidance. The Torah is a lawbook like no other, because it includes not only laws but also narratives, genealogies, history, and song. Law as the Torah conceives it is embedded in a larger universe of meanings. Those meanings help us understand the context and purpose of any given…
A religious vision is so important, reminding us that we are not owners of our resources. They belong not to us but to the Eternal and eternity. Hence we may not needlessly destroy. If that applies even in war, how much more so in times of peace. “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it” (Ps. 24:1)….
I believe that institutions like prophecy survive when they are translated from utopian ideals into practical policies. The greatness of the Sages, still not fully appreciated by the world, is that guided by the visions of the Prophets, they gave us the instructions for how to get from here to there….
To lead is to serve. The greater your success, the harder you have to work to remember that you are there to serve others; they are not there to serve you….