by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on December 20, 2013
At the crucial juncture between Moshe accepting the divine mission and his returning to the people and becoming their leader, a curious and perplexing event occurs. Moshe begins to head back to Egypt, and then, abruptly we read: “And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him” (4:24).…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on November 29, 2013
In the story of Yosef and his brothers, starting in last week’s parasha, VaYeshev, and continuing through this week’s parasha, Miketz, and beyond, we are presented with two very distinct leadership personalities: Reuven and Yehudah. Yehudah is the lion, the courageous one, the leader and the progenitor of the Davidic kingly line; and Reuven is the one passed over, the firstborn, the one who should have been the leader, but who failed.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on November 8, 2013
God promises Yaakov many things when God appears to him in the dream of the ladder and the angels: the Land of Israel, future children, Divine protection, and a safe return to his ancestral home. These blessings certainly seem to be extensive and all-encompassing.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on November 1, 2013
Yitzchak had it rough. He was the son of a great man. His charismatic father, Avraham, spread God’s name throughout the land. He fought wars against mighty kings, he went from being a stranger and sojourner in Canaan to a “prince of God” known and revered by all.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on October 25, 2013
After the climax of the akeida at the end of last week’s parsha, Avraham and Sarah quickly disappear from the scene in this week’s parsha. Sarah, of course, dies at the very beginning of the parsha, but even Avraham quickly fades into the background.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on October 18, 2013
Is it ever permissible to kill an innocent person in the name of God? Both our religious and ethical intuitions scream “no”! Halakha and Torah values consistently underscore the sanctity of human life and the injustice of allowing harm to come to innocent people, and from an ethical standpoint such an act is the very definition of murder.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on October 11, 2013
The following is the parsha thought that Rabbi Linzer shared at the installation of Rabbi Asher Lopatin this last Sunday. Why Avraham? We know why God chooses Noach. God even tells him why: “for you I have seen righteous before me in this generation.”…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on May 23, 2013
After the arranging of the camps around the Mishkan, in parashat Bamidbar and Nasso, our parasha, parashat Biha’alotkha, sees the camp moving forward and the beginning of the trek through the desert. At the opening of this trek, two verses are set off from the rest of the text – va’yehi binsoa ha’aron, “And it was when the Ark would journey…”, u’vinukho yomar, “And when it rested, he said…” (Bamidbar 10:35-36). …
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on May 10, 2013
Feel free to download and print this week’s Parsha Sheet and share it with your friends and family: Click here: Parshat Bamidbar This week, when we move from sefer Vayikra to sefer Bamidbar, we are finally moving away from Har Sinai, where Bnei Yisrael have been encamped for almost a year.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on May 2, 2013
This week, with the reading of Behar-Bichukotai, we end the book of Vayikra. The book of Vayikra is often thought of as devoted entirely to sacrifices or, a little more broadly, to the world of the kohanim – sacrifices and tumah vi’tahara, purity and impurity – and has thus also been called Torat Kohanim, the Torah of the Priests.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on March 14, 2013
There is a well-know debate regarding the desirability of sacrifices. Rambam, like many moderns, was also bothered by the institution of sacrifices, and stated that God had only commanded them as a concession to human weakness. In his Guide to the Perplexed (III:32), he states that God commanded them as a way of weaning the people away from idolatry.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on February 22, 2013
This Shabbat is Shabbat Parashat Zakhor when, as a lead up to Purim, we read about the mitzvah to remember Amalek: Remember what Amalek did to you by the way, when you came forth out of Egypt…. Therefore it shall be, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies… that you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget it.…
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