Metzorah 5784-2024
"And You Think that Tzara'at is Weird?"
(updated and revised from Metzorah 5765-2005)
The ancient Biblical claims that a person could contract a dermatological disease by speaking l’shon hara (evil), strains our rational credibility. And, yet, every day scientific knowledge uncovers new, incredible discoveries that seem to be as absurd as the Biblical disease Tzara’at. Yet, many of these scientific discoveries are valid. In fact, we could not conduct our lives without utilizing these new scientific powers and discoveries. So, let us not be so quick to dismiss the Biblical disease, Tzara’at. In light of what we’ve already discovered scientifically, Tzara‘at may not at all be in the realm of impossibility.
0 Comments11 Minutes
Tazria-Metzorah 5783-2023
“The Torah’s Home Security System”
(updated and revised from Tazria-Metzorah 5766-2006)
In parashat Metzorah we learn of the perplexing law of the house that is afflicted with tzara’at. This ancient law has much to teach us about the positive values and behaviors that must permeate a Jewish home, and the ruin and destruction that result from improper role models and examples.
0 Comments10 Minutes
Tazria 5779-2019
“Death and Life are in the 'Hands' of the Tongue!”
(Revised and updated from Tazria 5760-2000)
We tend to dismiss the power of the tongue, and yet it is so powerful, that it often has the ability to give life and take life.
0 Comments9 Minutes
Tazria-Metzora 5778-2018
“Looking at Tzara’at from a Different Perspective”
Summary: With the explosive growth of social media and the growing trend to let it “all hang out,” those who are concerned for the sanctity of speech need to follow the Torah’s strong advice to scrupulously guard our tongues and isolate the habitual speakers of evil.
0 Comments7 Minutes
Naso 5777-2017
"G-d's Gift of a Second Chance"
G-d instructed Moses to command the People of Israel to purify the camp by expelling those Israelites who were impure. The Midrash maintains that those expelled were rebellious and ungrateful people who had been previously healed by G-d, and rejected G-d to embrace the Golden Calf.
0 Comments9 Minutes
Tazria 5776-2016
“Heavenly Reminders”
It is from parashat Tazria that we learn that we dare not disregard even a simple Bohak, a non-defiling discoloration of the skin. G-d continuously sends us messages. We must keep our eyes and ears open constantly to recognize them, hear them, and properly respond to them
0 Comments9 Minutes
Tazria-Metzorah-Yom Ha’atzmaut 5775-2015
“Finding the Silver Lining”
The ancient biblical affliction--Tzaraat, seems to convey the message that affliction and disease can at times be redemptive.
0 Comments9 Minutes
Mikeitz 5769-2008
"Measure for Measure"
One of the great contributions of the Jewish people to civilization is the idea that a third innocent party may not be punished for the actions of another person. The practice of "an eye for an eye" has always been interpreted in Judaism as monetary compensation for an eye, thoroughly rejecting Lex Talionis, physical retaliation as the ancients practiced. Notwithstanding all this, our rabbis understood the G-d's heavenly justice does operate on the principle of "measure for measure." The story of Joseph in particular contains many proof texts to underscore how human beings are indeed held accountable by Heaven for their actions.
0 Comments11 Minutes
Tazria-Metzorah 5766-2006
"The Torah's Home Security System"
In parashat Metzorah we learn of the perplexing law of the house that is afflicted with tzara'at. This ancient law has much to teach us about the positive values and behaviors that must permeate a Jewish home, and the ruin and destruction that result from improper models and examples.
0 Comments9 Minutes
Metzorah 5765-2005
"And you think that Tzara'at is Weird?"
The ancient Biblical claims that a person could contract a dermatological disease by speaking lashon hara strains our rational credibility. And yet, every day scientific knowledge uncovers new and incredible discoveries that seem to be as absurd as the Biblical disease Tzara'at. Yet, many of these scientific discoveries are valid, in fact, we could not conduct our lives without utilizing these new scientific powers and discoveries. So, let's not be so quick to dismiss the Biblical disease, Tzara'at. In light of what we've already discovered scientifically, Tzara'at may not at all be in the realm of impossibility.
0 Comments9 Minutes
Tazria 5760-2000
"Death and Life are In the 'Hands' of the Tongue!"
We tend to dismiss the power of the tongue, and yet it has the ability to give life and to take life.
0 Comments8 Minutes