Ancient Connection – Modern Pioneers
Over the past months, I have written much about Jerusalem’s unique capability to unite Jews and bring Klal Yisrael together. As all Jews ascend to the makom HaMikdash for the festivals, even the amei ha’aretz are considered to be chaveirim, friends and colleagues, of the Torah scholars. On the regalim in Jerusalem, the normal boundaries […]
Last week, we discussed the metaphysical connection between Har Sinai and Har Moriah. The mountain on which the Torah was given will eventually be combined with the mountain on which the Beit HaMikdash will be built. We explained why limmud HaTorah is so essential to revealing the reality of Ein Od Milvado; HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s […]
In our parsha, Moshe highlights the importance of fearing God. In an important summary statement, Moshe delineates some of the general goals of the entire Torah: And now, O Israel, what does the Lord, your God, ask of you? Only to fear the Lord, your God, to walk in all His ways and to love […]
The story of the Jewish people takes them from Egypt to Sinai and ultimately to Yerushalayim. The Maharal describes that these stations reflect a journey into the essentials of Jewish faith. He traces how each stage in this process deepened and broadened the Jewish people’s faith in God. The Exodus from Egypt instilled within the […]
This week the world experienced a devastating and frightening earthquake. As believing Jews, we should “live with the parsha of the week” meaning that we should look into the weekly Torah reading for insights into current events. One small angle that emerges from such an analysis leads us from the devastation of the earthquake to […]
Our parsha discusses the momentous events of God giving the Jewish people the Torah at Har Sinai. As one would expect, when God appeared on the mountain, the space becomes imbued with sanctity. The Torah elaborates in great detail the extent of the preparations and precautions that the Jewish people took to properly relate to […]
Parshat Yitro represents the beginning of God’s true covenant with the Jewish people. While He made promises to the forefathers and took the Jewish people out of Mitzrayim, the true relationship between God and the people themselves is cemented at Sinai when He gave them the Torah and they accepted to live by its tenets. […]
There is great significance to the fact that God gave us the Torah in the desert and not in Yerushalayim, the capital of the Land of Israel. One midrash hints to the fact that if the Torah was given in the Land of Israel one might think that these two great gifts are bound together […]
