Parsha Thoughts | Torah In Motion

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Korach: A Beautiful Tallit

Tzizit and Mezuzah are two of the most popular and easy to fulfil mitzvot. Thankfully, even Jews who are very far removed from traditional practice…

Shelach Lecha: You Can Quote Me

Great people are not afraid to put their name behind their convictions. “And Calev quieted the people for Moshe and said, ‘We will rise…

Beha'alotcha: We Need You

“Moshe said to his father-in-law, ‘We are now on our way to the place that G-d promised to us. Come with us and we will let you share the benefit of…

Naso: Confession

The Torah was given to us on at least two occasions. The first revelation, just weeks after the exodus was ineffectual as the people built a golden…

Bamidbar: Laying the Foundation

Sefer Bamidbar can be viewed as a book of missed opportunities. A small group of Jewish slaves—the midrash claims no more than one in five—showed…

Bechukotai: Toiling in Torah

“These are the things that one eats the fruit of in this world and the principal remains in the world to come” (Shabbat 127a). Every morning as we…

Behar: G-d and Man

We tend to categorize mitzvot as either mitzvot between man and G-d or mitzvot between man and man. Tzedakah is a mitzva between man and man whereas…

Emor: A Holiday Treat

“And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you…

Kedoshim: Look at the Context

While facts do not lie, they often do not tell the whole truth. Facts are facts but facts still must be evaluated as to their moral propriety. And…

Metzora: Time for a Haircut

Judaism teaches that everything has the potential for holiness; after all everything in this world was created by G-d. But it is up to man to…

Tazria: A Sin Offering?

There is no greater joy than having a child. From a religious perspective, bringing new life into this world is the most tangible way of…

Shemini: Seeking the Middle

“Moshe then inquired, darosh darash, about the goat of the sin offering, and it had been burned” (Vayikra 10:16). Judaism has always stressed the…

Tzav: The Best Reason

One of the major debates in Jewish thought relates to the appropriateness of ascribing reasons for the mitzvoth of the Torah. One approach asserts…

Vayikra: Come on In

Jewish etiquette – and law – teach that one should not enter one’s own home, how much more so the home of someone else, without knocking first (…

Pekudei: Remember the Count

"These are the accounts, pekudei, of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of testimony, as they were pukad, rendered, according…

Vayakhel: Time to Meet

“Moshe gathered the entire congregation of Israel and said to them” (Shemot 35:1). It is extremely rare that the Torah records Moshe speaking to the…

Ki Tissa: Time to Speak

Forty days after the most awesome event in history – G-d’s revelation to man - the Jewish people were dancing around a golden calf. Though Moshe had…

Tezaveh - Biblical Editing

  The central theme of Sefer Shemot is the formation of the Jewish people as a nation. The group of 70 individuals who descended to Egypt quickly…