…libertarianism, the condition that Sefer Shoftim describes as ish ha-yashar be-einav ya’aseh, “each doing what is right in his own eyes.” This presents Jews with a paradoxical situation. Never have we been freer to be Jews, but rarely have we faced a culture more antithetical to the values of Judaism, not superficially but at its very roots. Under such circumstances,…
…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…
…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…
…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…
…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…
…man and Ketubim, the words of human beings to God. And that’s why the book of Ruth appears in Ketubim. But if you were just ordering them chronologically, where would you place the book? It comes after Shoftim. And before Sefer Shmuel, the end of the Book of Judges, the beginning of the book, the four books of Kings, Samuel…
…of blood vengeance, that protection was necessary. The purpose of the cities was to make sure that someone judged innocent of murder was safe from being killed. As Shoftim puts it: “And he shall flee to one of these cities and live” (Deut. 19:5). This apparently simple concept was given a remarkable interpretation by the Talmud: The Sages taught: If…
…it was given through fire? From the verse in Shemot 19:18: “Mount Sinai was all in smoke as God had come down upon it in fire.” How do we know it was given through water? As it says in Shoftim 5:4, “The heavens and the clouds dripped water [at Sinai].” How do we know it was given through wilderness? [As…
…ein lanu Melech ela atah, “we have no King, but you,” In Israel, God’s kingship was manifest. And that is what happened during the whole of the biblical era. Either Israel had no kings, they had shoftim, they had Judges, charismatic military leaders, or they had kings beginning with Saul, David, Solomon. But uniquely in biblical kingship, biblical kingship is…
One of the most striking features about Judaism in comparison with, say, Christianity or Islam, is that it is impossible to answer the question: Who is the central character of the drama of faith? In both of the other Abrahamic monotheisms the answer is obvious. In Judaism, it is anything but. Is it Abraham, the founder of the covenantal family?…