by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on September 7, 2012
How do we keep a relationship alive? It starts with not taking the other person for granted, with regularly appreciating what that other person gives to you, what he or she means to you. We must also give expression to them through our words and through our actions, so that these feelings become real for the other person and real for us. …
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on August 31, 2012
In the Torah we find many many mitzvot, but rarely do we find a clear articulation of the reasons or values behind the mitzvot, what is known as ta’amei ha’mitzvot. We are told that the mitzvot are inherently good and that by doing them we will inherit the land and receive God’s blessings.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on August 17, 2012
As Moshe prepares the Children of Israel to enter into the Land, he exhorts them not just to live up to individual responsibilities, but to live up to their communal ones, first and foremost. They are going to enter a new land, and they must turn it into a country.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on August 9, 2012
What appears below is my remarks from the Modern Orthodox Siyum haShas which took place t at Congregation Shearith Israel in Manhattan. A focal point of this speech is the mitzvah of constantly speaking the words of Torah, which appears in the first paragraph of Shema which we read last week, as well as in the second paragraph of Shema which we read this week in parashat Ekev. …
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on September 23, 2011
Parshat Nitzavim always falls immediately before Rosh HaShana, and appropriately so. For it is in this parasha that the Torah speaks at great length about the power of teshuva: “And you will return to the Lord your God and obey God’s voice… you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul” (Devarim 30:2).…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on September 16, 2011
Ki Tavo opens with two rituals: the bringing of the first fruit, the bikkurim, where one declares his gratitude for God’s goodness, and the dispensing of the tithes at the end of three years where one states that he has dispensed these tithes according to the law.…
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.…