This Shabbat we return to our regularly-scheduled Torah, as it were, after the excitement on Simkhat Torah of reading the very end and the very beginning of the scroll. Moshe Rabbenu, Moses our teacher, dies, and is bewailed, and then the people move on – and we find ourselves, following them, suddenly in a GardenContinue reading “Shabbat Bereshit: Till It and Tend It”
Tag Archives: Days of Awe
Shabbat Ha’azinu: Only Uncertainty Leads to New Truth – Jump, Already
During these ten Days of Awe in which we now find ourselves, we are challenged to really try to change from the ingrained habits that define us. It is easy in the first moments after Rosh HaShanah to experience a setback. In that moment, according to Jewish tradition, the yetzer hara’ will appear to you asContinue reading “Shabbat Ha’azinu: Only Uncertainty Leads to New Truth – Jump, Already”
Shabbat Ki Tavo: What Kind of Jew Are You?
This week’s parashah begins with a rare example of actual prayer formula in ancient Israel. Most of the time, “prayer”, that is, seeking to communicate with G-d, was expressed in a non-verbal form, that of sacrifice. A close look at the book VaYikra (Leviticus) will demonstrate the truth my former teacher taught in his book TheContinue reading “Shabbat Ki Tavo: What Kind of Jew Are You?”
Shabbat Shuvah: Yir’ah and Trembling
We are now entered into a ten-day period of what are meant to be Days of Awe. Awe is a difficult concept for us – the vibrant, incessant creativity of the English language has turned “awesome” into an appreciative adjective for almost anything. For our ancestors, awe – in Hebrew, yir’ah – meant the emotions thatContinue reading “Shabbat Shuvah: Yir’ah and Trembling”
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 