Matot-Masei 5783-2023
The Mitzvah of Living in the Land of Israel”
(updated and revised from Matot-Masei 5764-2004)
In parashat Masei, G-d commands the Jewish people that when they enter the land of Canaan, they are to drive all the Canaanite inhabitants out of the land, for G-d has given the land to the People of Israel to possess it. The ancient tradition holds that there are 613 mitzvot in the Torah. However, there is no definitive listing of those 613 mitzvot. Consequently, the question arises of whether there is an explicit Torah mitzvah to settle in the land of Israel or not. This question was an issue of great dispute between Maimonides and Nachmanides.
0 Comments9 Minutes
Bamidbar 5783-2023
“Surviving the Wilderness”
(updated and revised from Bamidbar 5764-2004)
Bamidbar--the wilderness--is not just an experience in the desert. The wilderness represents the challenge of Jews to survive in hostile environments, and provides the keys for Jewish survival in those environments. Bamidbar teaches that the strength of family, the centrality of G-d and devotion to Torah, are the elixirs of Jewish life.
0 Comments5 Minutes
Kee Tavo 5774-2014
“Finding Respite”
After the horrors of the Holocaust were made public, many Jews were under the impression that with the establishment of the State of Israel, its miraculous rebirth and development, the perfidious scourge of anti-Semitism would somehow abate and eventually vanish. For a while there was, what seemed to be, a universal sensitivity. But, only sixty years later, that sensitivity has vanished, and there is now a virulent outbreak of anti-Semitism in countless countries throughout the world, even on the streets of New York and Los Angeles.
0 Comments6 Minutes
Va’etchanan 5774-2014
“The Prediction of Return”
The Torah, in parashat Va’etchanan, predicts that massive numbers of Jews in exile will return to traditional Jewish practice. Is that happening today?
0 Comments13 Minutes
Behar-Bechukotai, Yom Yerushalayim 5772-2012
"Living Outside the Land of Israel"
Although the Midrash regards the importance of the mitzvah of dwelling in the land of Israel as equivalent in value to all the other Torah mitzvot combined, the debate still rages today regarding the obligation for all Jews to dwell in the land of Israel.
0 Comments8 Minutes
Matot-Masei 5764-2004
"The Mitzvah of Living in the Land of Israel"
In parashat Masei, G-d commands the Jewish people that when they enter the land of Canaan they are to drive out all the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, for G-d has given the land to the People of Israel to possess it. The ancient tradition holds that there are 613 mitzvot in the Torah. However, there is no definitive listing of those 613 mitzvot. Consequently, the question arises of whether there is an explicit Torah mitzvah to settle in the land of Israel or not. This question was an issue of great dispute between Maimonides and Nachmanides.
0 Comments9 Minutes
Bamidbar 5764-2004
"Surviving the Wilderness"
Bamidbar--the wilderness--is not just an experience in the desert. The wilderness represents the challenge of Jews to survive in hostile environments and provides the keys for Jewish survival in those environments. Bamidbar teaches that the strength of family, the centrality of G-d and devotion to Torah are the elixirs of Jewish life.
0 Comments5 Minutes