by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on January 24, 2019
How many commandments were given at Mt. Sinai? The answer, surprisingly, is not 10. The Torah speaks of the aseret ha’devarim, the Ten Utterances, not the Ten Commandments. When one gets down to counting the commandments, she finds that the first of the utterances, “I am the Lord your God,” is not exactly a commandment, and that some, like “You shall have no other gods before me; you shall not bow down to them nor shall you worship them,” actually contain 3 commandments, if not more.…
by Rabbi Haggai Resnikoff Posted on October 7, 2016
Although voluntary buy-in is a more motivational incentive than extrinsic reward and certainly more than threat of punishment, there may still be good reason to insist that Jewish education and general keeping of mitzvot be mandatory and not a choice. Declaring something as mandatory emphasizes its importance, and, despite emotional objections, it can help ingrain habits (especially in children) so that any alternative would be unthinkable.…
by Rabbi Haggai Resnikoff Posted on October 6, 2016
Apart from the “Shema Yisra’el” with which we are so familiar, Parshat Va’etchanan has three other instances where we see similar instructions for Israel to listen. What do the Other Shema Yisraels have that our Shema doesn’t. Considering their emphasis, wouldn’t it be better to recite them twice daily rather than our Shema? …
by Rabbi Haggai Resnikoff Posted on September 9, 2016
It is a truism among us that keeping the Halakha is synonymous with doing God’s will. However, our sources provide a strong argument that this is not always the case. Some sources (like the Grand Inquisitor) suggest that God’s will should trump rabbinic authority.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on February 4, 2016
Mishpatim has many, many laws. So many that one may be misled into believing that the entirety of one’s obligation as a Jew is halakha and mitzvah. However the end of the parasha makes it clear that all of these mitzvot occur in the context of a brit, a covenant: And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord … And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said na’aseh vi’nishma, will we do, and we will listen (Shemot, 24:4, 7).…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on January 21, 2016
The story of Amalek is recorded twice in the Torah: once in Beshalach, and again at the end of Parashat Ki Teitzei in Devarim. In Beshalach, we are instructed to write a record of what Amalek did to us, but we are not commanded to actively remember the events.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on February 10, 2012
After crossing the Red Sea, seeing the drowning of the Egyptians, experiencing the first hardships of the desert, and receiving the quail and the manna from God, the Children of Israel have finally arrived at their first destination, Mt. Sinai. While the Land of Israel still awaits, their initial demand to leave Egypt was to worship God, and that worship takes place here, in the desert, at the foot of Har Sinai: “When you take this people out of Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.” (Shemot 3:12).…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on September 12, 2011
Ki Teitze is a parsha densely packed with mitzvot. A new mitzvah appears almost every few verses, and sometimes even more frequently. It is, in a way, the parshat Mishpatim or the parshat Kedoshim of Devarim. Now, of course, just because there are all these laws does not mean that it is always clear what their parameters are or how they are to be implemented.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on April 14, 2011
In Masechet Menachot, there is a very rich section that deals with the laws of tefillin and mezuzah. A particular theme of interest, especially in the context of the korban Pesach, is that of the mezuzah as an object that protects the house. …
by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on March 18, 2011
One of the major themes of Zevachim – and the one that opens mesekhet Menachot as well- is that of intent. The concepts of shelo li’shma, intending the wrong sacrifice, and pigul, intending to eat it at the wrong time, factor very heavily throughout the mesekhet. …
