Category: Morality & Torah

  • People are Watching

    פרשת אמור / ט’ באייר תשפ”ב – כ”ד בעומר

    To blaspheme is to do something that disgraces God. When someone says that they are religious then they represent their religion to the world. In other words, to be an observant Jew is to be an observed Jew.

  • Economics & Holiness

    פרשת קדושים – כ’ בעמר / ה’ באייר תשפ”ב

    In this week’s Portion we explore the Torah’s meaning of holiness. One of the interesting things is that the Torah stresses honesty in business. It ties this to loving your neighbor and that if one is dishonest the result will be sacrificing your children to the idol Moloch.

  • On Becoming Holy

    פרשת קדושים – י”ז בעומר / ב’ באייר תשפ”ב

    This week’s portion starts with “you will be holy”. Note that it does not say that we are holy but that we have to strive for holiness. Then it explains that we become holy through proper ethical and moral behavior, not by sacrifices and prayer.

  • What we Mourn During the Omer

    פרשת אחרי מות – י”ג בעומר / כ”ח בניסן תשפ”ב

    During the Omer we lesson our happiness due to Rebbe Akiva’s dying. The Talmud gives the reason that they died was that they did not respect one another. This is to teach us to respect our fellow man even when we disagree with him.

  • The Ultimate Defeat of the Nazis

    פרשת אחרי מות – י”ב בעומר / כ”ז בניסן תשפ”ב

    Today is Remembrance Day for the Holocaust and Heroism in Israel. The true defeat of the Nazis is not that we survived but that we survived as Jews and will continue to be Jews in spite of their evil.

  • Personal Morality Before Public Prayer

    פרשת אחרי מות – י”א בעומר / כ”ו בניסן תשפ”ב

    After discussing the importance of the sacrificial rites, the Torah returns to discussing personal morality. This is emphasize that what we do privately is more important than what we say publicly.

  • The Power of Evil Speech

    פרשת מצורע / ז’ בניסן תשפ”ב

    The Torah stresses how bad lashon Hara, evil speech is. One could make the case that it is the root of much evil in the world. People do not realize the damage they can do with their speech.

  • The Exodus & The Founding Fathers

    פרשת מצורע / ו’ בניסן תשפ”ב

    The 2 rejected ideas for the symbol of the US were the Jews crossing the Red Sea and Jefferson’s idea for it to picture the Jews in the wilderness being led by a pillar of fire. Jefferson’s idea was that leaving Egypt was only the beginning, a lot work had to yet be done.

  • Getting Egypt Out of the Jews

    פרשת תזריע / כ”ז באדר ב’ תשפ”ב

    In Parshat HaHodesh the first thing that the Torah states is the Korban Pesach (The Pascal Sacrifice). This was to get the Jews to look at Egyptian society as not only foreign but as dangerous to their spiritual well being as a nation.

  • The Power of Speech

    פרשת תזריע / כ”ו באדר ב’ תשפ”ב

    The power of speech can be greater than we think. When we say bad things about people the damage can cause actions that are beyond anything we could imagine. That’s why the Torah states we should nip it in the bud as soon as possible.