Dvar Torah
What’s Love Got to Do With It?
The only blessing that uses the expression “with love,” באהבה is used is recited by the Kohanim right before they bestow God’s threefold blessing on the congregation. “Blessed are You, Hashem, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with the holiness of Aaron and has commanded us to bless His people Israel with love.” What’s love got to do with it and why does Aharon merit a special mention?
Shavuot: The Holiday of the “Yoke of Heaven”
What is it, exactly, that we are celebrating on Shavuot? All of our Yomim Tovim celebrate ideas. What, then, is the central concept that we should take away from our commemoration of “the time of giving our Torah, זמן מתן תורתנו?”
Yom Yerushalayim Reunification of Jerusalem 1967
Following along the weekly Torah reading, we periodically encounter a passage that is audacious. We wonder how Moshe could say such a thing or make such a bold prediction. This week’s Torah portion, Bechukotai, contains two such passages. Verses like these teach us fundamental principles of Judaism.
Philosophic Testimony: The Sabbatical and Jubilee Year
Many Jews think that the Torah contains not only knowledge of how to live but knowledge in all areas of science as well. This mistake occurs out of a naïve admiration for the Torah. People want to think that since the Torah is “from heaven,” God revealed all knowledge in its pages. This week’s Torah portion, Behar, informs us of a couple of mitzvot that apply specifically to farmers in the Land of Israel. Are they the conception of an agricultural Einstein?
The Importance of Sanctifying Time
What is time, why do we care about time, and why is important to sanctify it? This week’s parsha, Parashat Emor, sheds some light these questions.
