פרשת משפטים / כ”ד בשבט תשפ”ב
When an ox gores for the third time it has to be destroyed and the owner is not compensated. Why is this so. Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that an ox is usually a passive animal. There has to be a reason it became dangerous.
פרשת משפטים / כ”ג בשבט תשפ”ב
The Torah shows that there is a connection between the thief and the victim. That the thief cannot make repentance until the victim is made whole, and the only one who can do that is the thief. Only then can the thief ask for forgiveness and only from the victim, not anyone else.
פרשת משפטים / כ”ב בשבט תשפ”ב
The Commandment to drill a hole in the ear of a slave that refuses to go free seems odd. The reason could be that God does not want His followers to be slaves. He wants us to be free to choose to do the commandments,
פרשת משפטים / כ”א בבשבט תשפ”ב
The Torah should continue with holy matters after the giving of the 10 Commandments at Mount Sinai. Instead, it goes into detail on how we treat each other, both on a personal and business level. Why the detour? To teach us that a mundane act has to be done in a holy way.
פרשת יתרו / י”ט בשבט תשפ”ב
The root of evil is not money in of itself. It is the jealousy of someone else who has more than another. It ignores how the person acquired his money or property. People, in a free economy acquire wealth by providing goods and services to others who are willing to pay. To paraphrase an old adage, the rich get richer and the poor get richer.
פרשת יתרו / י”ח בשבט תשפ”ב
The importance of the Sabbath to the Jewish people cannot be underestimated. It has been said that rather than the Jews kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept the Jews. When we look at the 4th Commandment we understand why.
פרשת יתרו / י”ז בשבט תשפ”ב
The 3rd Commandment is against idol worship. What does the Torah mean by idolatry? It means raising anything to godliness that is not God. As we know, non-belief leads to belief in things or people. Belief in God does not.
פרשת יתרו / ט”ז תשפ”ב
In the 10 Commandments we are commanded not to take God’s Name in vain. This can be interpreted not to do evil in God’s Name, thus making a mockery of God.
פרשת יתרו / ט”ו בשבט תשפ”ב
As the saying goes so that Torah agrees. We see that Tziporah, Moses’s wife arrived with her father to greet Moses and the Jews in the wilderness. Moses needed her wise council to continue as the great leader that he was.
פרשת יתרו / י”ד בשבט תשפ”ב
The beginning of this week’s portion seems out of place. The Torah should have now had the Jews going to Mount Sinai to receive the Commandments. This is the logical progression. Instead, the Torah seems to take a detour to setting up a court system. Why this digression?