What Does Judaism Think

It was a clash of titans, and the outcome would affect the Jewish people for the rest of history. No, I'm not talking about Moses and Pharaoh or Esther and Haman. I'm talking about Joseph and Judah.

Joseph had become the second most powerful man in Egypt, and his brothers had been supplicants coming to purchase food during the years of famine. They did not recognize that they were dealing with the brother whom they had sold into slavery. Instead, Joseph accuses them of being slaves and manufactured a situation where he could take his brother Benjamin away from the family.

Judah stands up to stop this from happening. The speech he makes forces Joseph to change his approach and finally reveal his true identity to the brothers. Judah won the battle. Why does this matter? Read More

Matchmaking is not a simple thing. Just observe the care with which Abraham tasked his servant, Eliezer, with the mission of finding a wife for Isaac. All of us who wish to set people up can learn a lot about how to succeed at it from this section of the Torah.

The first thing to note is that Abraham gave his servant the job, rather than leaving his son to find his own beloved. It raises the question of whether matchmaking is simply a logistical process (a sort of search engine for potential mates), or is it a counseling process. The answer to this question will help make us better matchmakers, if we seek that role. Read More

Why all of this attention on Lot? The book of Genesis has many important main characters. Adam, Noah, Abraham and Sara, Isaac, Jacob and his sons, etc. They are all part of the ancestry of the Jewish nation. But Lot was simply Abraham's nephew, not one of our patriarchs.

Indeed, he does not seem to be the most impressive person either. This is a man who willingly chose to live in the most evil city of the day, Sodom. There doesn't seem to be anything remarkable that warrants the amount of attention this man gets.

And yet, there is something extremely remarkable about him. It is the most important character trait known to man. Read More

Ezra the Scribe prescribed an interesting preparation for Rosh Hashanah: read the detailed Rebuke in the book of Deuteronomy on the penultimate Sabbath before the holiday. This rebuke, in the section of Ki Tavo, is long and terrifying. Why is this the preparation for the Jewish new year that Ezra felt most appropriate? Read More

In the coming weeks, Israel will once again head to the polls. We have a vibrant democracy, and in comparison to some of the dictatorships in our region, it seems quite heavenly.

And yet, the Torah commands us to "Surely a point a king upon yourselves." So perhaps we should be creating a monarchy instead? Is democracy allowed? Read More

There is a commandment to the Levites to protect the Sanctuary. As the Haggadah song states, "Appoint guards to your city all day and all night." There was no need for guards to protect the Sanctuary from external enemies as God's presence was sufficient for that. Rather, these guards were there to protect the Sanctuary's honor.

The guards were on duty 24 hours a day and had 24 stations around the periphery of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Throughout the night, the priestly supervisors would check up on the guards to make sure they were awake. If a guard was caught dozing he had a nasty punishment coming. The punishment and the reason for it provide an important insight into the secret of happiness in life. Read More

Shabbat has a strange way of showing up in unexpected places. In the Torah reading of Vayakhel, which deals with the erection of the sanctuary, Shabbat makes an introductory appearance. At the beginning of the section, we are told "Thou shalt not burn a fire in all of your habitations on the Sabbath day."

This prohibition of fire is taken by the sages to refer to something different and quite surprising. And that explanation, together with its juxtaposition to the Sanctuary, give us the secret of how we should approach the Sabbath day.
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Judaism differs from other religions in its concept of universal holiness. Others define a holy place, a holy day, a holy person. Judaism teaches that all people have holiness, that holiness is a 24/7 obligation, and that it is as much something to be brought into the home as it is to be found in the synagogue.

With that in mind, the splendor of the High Priest's garments, as described in the Torah, as well as the entire spectacle of the tabernacle, seem to contradict this principle. In truth, perhaps they reinforce it. Read More

I have an idea for a button that, when pressed, would demonstrate a character trait that has the potential to change lives. It is not an easy character trait to achieve, and for many of us, pressing that button would seem an incredibly unpleasant experience.

All of this relates to a number of puzzling aspects of the Egyptian enslavement of the Israelites. On the surface, it seems like a classic case of anti-Semitism. The Egyptians feared the Jews, and so they persecuted them. But it is far more complicated than that! Read More

When we were children, if someone found a toy that someone else had lost, the saying was, "Finders keepers, losers weepers." This sentiment is antithetical to Judaism. The Torah teaches us the mitzvah of returning lost objects. So it is puzzling why the biblical commentator Rashi quotes a Medrash that seems to express the same sentiment with reference to The Land of Israel. The Rabbi in the Medrash, Rabbi Isaac, ponders why the Torah begins with the story of creation. If, after all, the Torah is a book of laws, it should instead begin with some commandments!

His answer is, on the surface, puzzling. It is to teach us that "if the nations of the world will accuse Israel of having stolen the land of the seven nations, Israel can respond that God created the world. He gave the land to whom He saw fit, and took it away from them when He saw fit and gave it to us." That sounds to me like finders keepers, losers weepers. There must be a deeper meaning. Read More

The holiday of Sukkot is strange. Pesach, for example, is clearly about the Exodus, which was a well-described event in the Torah. Shavuot, while not associated expressly with the Giving of the Torah, nonetheless has been identified with this clear historical event of major significance.

Sukkot, however, is described by the Torah in Vayikra as being a commemoration of the "Sukkot I caused the Israelites to dwell in when I brought them out of Egypt." First of all, where is the account of those Sukkot? Nowhere! All there is is a place named Sukkot where the Israelites first encamped as they left Egyptian bondage. Secondly, even if there were a clear historical record of God making Sukkot for us, does this merit a major festival? Is it on the level of the Exodus, or the Sinaitic Revelation? If anything Sukkot should become part of the Pesach ritual. Eat matza in the sukkah from the second day on. So why is this holiday celebrated? Read More

"If a man shall have a rebellious son, does not listen to his father and mother…" This commandment tells us that a young child who is both rebellious and impervious to correction may be liable to death at the hands of the Sanhedrin. And it is his parents will bring him to the court for that penalty to be meted out. What a difficult and troubling commandment!

When understood properly, however, this impossible Commandment becomes the source of some of the most important instructions we can receive. Read More

The Torah contains a number of stories about people who committed sins and received their punishment. Everything from the snake to the Egyptians to the Golden calf worshipers involves appropriate consequences. One story, however, stands out in that an entirely new creation came into being just to punish the wrongdoers. That story is that of Korach.

Korach mounts a rebellion against Moses, and God creates a mouth in the earth to swallow him up, together with his fellow rebels. This unique demise teaches us a critical lesson about Judaism. Read More

The fast of Tisha b'Av had its origin on the ninth of Av in the year when Moses sent the spies to the land of Israel. It was on that tragic day that the people heard their evil report, and cried about their feared fate. They chose to listen to the 10 spies who said that the land of Israel was impossible for them, instead of listening to Joshua and Caleb were sure them that they could, indeed, successfully inhabit the land. Since they cried for no justified reason, God decreed that they should be a crying for generations. It was Tisha b'Av.

Since that time, however, the Jewish people have repeatedly demonstrated their love of The Land of Israel. We have fought, sacrificed, cried and dreamed, for millennia. Indeed, that love of the land of Israel was demonstrated on the very next day! And yet, it failed to change the decree. Why? Read More

Jewish law and the Jewish values have guided the Jewish people since antiquity. At many times in our history, society at large presented alternative values, and the Jewish people found themselves on the defensive. Assimilation was often the result. The situation is similar to what is happening today.

How can traditional Judaism respond? It's not easy. A very great person from our past was puzzled by this very same question, and had to be given an answer directly by God. Read More