Don’t Change the Torah. So What are Rabbinical Mitzvahs? — By Ben
In this week’s Torah portion Re’eh, we get the paramount instruction from God to, “Be careful to observe everything which I am commanding you, you shall not add to it […]
Author Archives: eltram
Why Shema Is So Long — By Ben
Shema isn’t a prayer. Colloquially we tend to refer to any words meant for God as prayer. That can mean requests, praise, or gratitude. But None of those sentiments are […]
Why God Told Moses To Stop Praying — By Ben
Va’eschanan is a jam packed Torah Portion. There’s shema, which includes the mitzvahs of loving God, wrapping tefillin, and mezzuzah. There’s the retelling of 10 Commandments and the whole revelation […]
Tisha B’av – Whose Fault Is It Anyway? — By Ben
This Sunday we observe the “holiday” of Tisha B’Av. I put holiday in quotes because the day is anything but a time for celebration. Regarded as the worst day in […]
Masei – The Torah’s Fugitive — By Ben
Let’s say Guy A and Guy B are at work, maybe they’re on some construction job. Guy A is on some scaffolding several floors up and Guy B is down […]
Pinchas – Peace From Hatred — By Ben
On the drive back from Mother’s day brunch my brother has accused me of lying about my car’s gas mileage. A discussion about fuel reimbursement started just before getting into […]
Hitler Could Have Saved Six Million Jews — By Ben
As I have pointed out previously, I find it fascinating that almost all of the Torah portion of Balak follows the perspective of the wicked prophet Bilam. I get that […]
