Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Netzavim
The Netziv’s point: Self-assessment should be based on who we are, not based on who our neighbor is.
Redeeming Relevance: Halachic Man and Authentic Man
Even as Western society has become uncomfortable with religion, it has also become increasingly uncomfortable with its own discomfort.
When There Are No Halakhic Responses to the Elimination of the Iranian Threat
The theological questions from October 7 appear to be answering themselves in a way we can more readily understand.
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Re’eh
God's greatest gift for growth & coming closer to Him is "feedback;" Eretz Israel is set up that way
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Vayeshev: The Rhymes and Rhythms of Biblical History
How could Ya’akov make the same 'mistake' as his father, to favor one child over another after all the troubles that plagued him resulting from Yitzchak favoring Esav?
The Sukkah and Exile’s Positive Side
Sukkot is a holiday that brings a unique inner peace – a peace that would seem to resemble the messianic era, a universal acceptance of God’s moral and spiritual order; an order that is best advanced by helping the Jewish people serve God and further educate mankind.
Redeeming Relevance: Women, Beauty and Religion
The easiest way out of my problem would be to say that the Mishkan was designed based on people’s need to be impressed
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Noach: A Death Penalty for Animals?
When Noach gets off the ark, there seems to be a whole new world order that surrounds him.
What Happens When We Forget About God?
Apparently, God is only actively engaged when man is conscious of Him
How Should We Listen?…
As if Our Life Depended on it
Redeeming Relevance: How Many of Moshe’s Children are on His Family Tree?
Though they share parents and ancestors, once the two lines diverge, the Torah tells us exclusively about Aharon’s descendants
God’s Idolatrous Gentile Priests
What does this have to do Yom Kippur?
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Shmini: When Intelligence is Not Enough
In commenting on the story of Nadav and Avihu, Aharon’s two sons who died while presenting a fire offering to God, Rashi does something...
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Vayigash: Yosef‘s Invitation in to Exile
Yosef wanting to see his father Yakov again is understandable. Perhaps Yosef could not have left Egypt to do so. But did Yosef’s desire to see him justify making his father leave Israel for Egypt?
Redeeming Relevance; V’Zot HaBracha: Moshe’s Blessings and his Successful Failure
Yet in spite of Moshe’s best intentions, it is obvious that his blessings – as we have portrayed them – had little effect on the Jews once they reached the Land of Israel.
Finding Just the Right Gift… for God
Rather than keeping it only to herself, Chava showed her love for her husband by sacrificing her own consumption of the fruit, allowing him to eat part of it instead.
Redeeming Relevance in the Weekly Parsha: Vayera
Yishmael could claim to be a victim; he only prevails when he subordinates himself to Yitzchak.
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Veyechi: The Subversive Forefather and his Conformist Son
Ya’akov decides to prioritize the younger son, Ephraim, over the older Menashe
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Shemini: Why there is NO Problem with Collective Punishment
--and Why We Avoid it Nonetheless
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Bhaalotekha
Constitutional democracy is a better form of spiritual government than either anarchy or totalitarianism. G-d wanted intellectual diversity and as close to universal accountability as possible.
The Place of the Displaced, the Replaced, and the Misplaced
The Kohen is the one who will accompany these three alienated individuals and, by so doing, become their connection to the rest of society.
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Kedoshim: The Ten Commandments’ New Spin
With the 10 Commandments, G-d is described as the One who took the Jews out of Egypt. In Parshat Kedoshim, He is described simply as being "holy." Both phrases set the tone for the list that follows.
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Metzora: Flesh
That man is more than flesh is obvious to the Torah, but the Torah’s task is to make it obvious to man.
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Mikeitz: Was it Good for the Jews?
Is this the only question we should ask?
Why Weren’t the Non-Jews Under the Mountain?
Judging from the sources in the Talmud, there is more than a tinge of ambivalence about the non-Jews being left out of Matan Torah....
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Shelach: A Very, Very Good Land
The paradoxical truth of a very, very good land--Israel.
Redeeming Relevance in the Weekly Parsha: Vayechi
Yaakov's blessings to his sons stand as a solution to their particular issues with relationships
Redeeming Relevance: Moshe’s International Grave
It seems important for the Torah’s central prophet to have been someone with whom gentiles could identify. And being buried outside of Israel may well have been part of that
Redeeming Relevance: A People Chosen for Opposition
While there is plenty of room for cooperation and interaction with other larger cultures, it is important for the Jewish people to remember that a key role God wants it to play is to often stand on the other side and follow our own path.
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Toldot: When a Son Confronts a Father and When a Father...
On the face of it, a conventional exchange between father and son, we see it nowhere else in Tanakh. Moreover both discussions take place at pivotal points in which the respective father-son relationships are tested to their limits.