by Adam Cohen
Posted on August 4, 2022
Imagine you see a busker playing the violin in a train station. You give them money as you walk past and carry on with your day. But it is a shame in a way. Just 30 more seconds of your time and you could have taken this mitzvah to the next level.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on July 16, 2021
The Book of Devarim–also known as Deuteronomy–presents us with a paradox. This book is completely Moses’s words: It is his valedictory speech to the Israelites and at the same time the divine word of God. How can both of these things be true? …
by Rabbi Haggai Resnikoff
Posted on August 3, 2017
Judaism today sees itself as a civilization that honors history above most things. And the history that we venerate is almost always our own. The Torah, however, in various places emphasizes the importance of knowing other people’s histories. This actually appears odd to us (as well as to early sages) precisely because knowing the history of ancient peoples, particularly those that have disappeared in the wake of our arrival on the scene, seems irrelevant to identity formation which, for us, is history’s primary purpose.…
by Rabbi Eric Levy
Posted on November 1, 2016
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by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on August 15, 2016
There are many differences between the stories that are retold in the book of Devarim and their earlier appearances in the Torah. How are we to explain this? If we read in Bamidbar that sending the spies was God’s idea and in Devarim that it was the people’s, it would seem that one version has to be wrong.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on July 22, 2015
What happens when we repeat a story or lesson in our own words? Does it improve with the retelling, or does it worsen? Is the message lost, or is it made more relevant? What is the point of retelling? Why not repeat things verbatim?…
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