In Ve’etchanan part one the Shabbat of comfort after the fast of Tisha B’Av — SHABBOS NACHAMU (so-called after the opening words of the Haftara). Having mourned past destruction and ruin on Tisha Be’Av,...

In this lecture “Proofs for Oral Torah | Parsha Dedavrim we discuss how Devarim acts as a bridge between the Written Torah and the “Oral Torah.” The Oral Torah includes the Talmud and the Midrashim,...

The themes of DEVARIM part one are appropriate for this period. The Book of DEVARIM is the Torah’s “mouth”, summarizing all that has gone before in the “main body” of the Torah. DEVARIM calls...

In this weeks portion, we see Moshe offer peace to King Sihon after G-D commanded for Israel to make war and subjugate them. What was Moshe doing? Was he ignoring G-D’s command? We will...

In this lecture “Faith a Jewish perspective | Parsha Devarim we discuss how many people assume that emuna refers to blind faith. However, this is not the case. In the Aleinu prayer recited at...

On the face of it, the request of the Gadites and the Reubenites to settle east of the Jordan River appears quite decent and worthy. But Moses raised two arguments against them: 1. How...

Discover the point to the 17th of Tammuz. Why do we mourn and fast? During the Three Weeks, from 17th of Tammuz to the 9th of Av, we commemorate the conquest of Jerusalem, the...

The identification of Pinchas with Elijah, by means of the known Agaddic statement that “Pinchas is Elijah,” is an attempt by some of the Sages to describe the mysterious figure of the prophet. Not...

In Pinchas part two we discuss the connection to the story of Pinchas to righteousness in our age. Our age is obsessed with the search for peace. How ironic that the more everyone runs...

Apparently, there is another theological point to the story, another reason for the seeming participation of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the game:  to bless Israel.   Reading Exodus and Numbers, as...