by Eliav Oschry | Jun 28, 2015
“When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees of the field people, that you should besiege them?...
by Rabbi Moshe Pinchuk | Jun 28, 2015
Rabbi Moshe Pinchuk Former Rosh Kollel (Melbourne, 1998-2001) Currently Head of the Beit Midrash in Netanya College Maimonides (Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 7:7) discusses the two meanings behind the position of the prophet: The prophet may receive prophecy that...
by Rabbi Chanan Morrison | Jun 28, 2015
We all live a double life. There is our external world – our relationships with friends and family, our jobs, our place in society. And we have our inner world – our private thoughts and emotions, our introspections and contemplations. We are influenced by...
by Rabbi Avi Goldberg | Aug 22, 2009
Rabbi Avi Goldberg Former Rosh Kollel in Memphis Elul – the month of forgiveness and penitence – has just begun. While the Sephardim started reciting the Selichot (literally, penitence) prayer on Rosh Chodesh, the Ashkenazim wait until closer to...
by Rabbi Shlomo Sobol | Sep 6, 2008
Rabbi Shlomo Sobol Former Rosh Kollel in Detroit This week’s Parasha deals with a number of public policy issues that will guide the life of the Jewish People, as they are about to begin their life as a nation in Eretz Yisrael. One of these commandments is to...
by Amitai Ben Nun | Aug 17, 2007
Amitai Ben Nun Former Shaliach in Cape Town The chapter of eglah arufa (literally, a decapitated calf) refers to a case where a corpse is found in a field and the murderer is not known. In response, the city elders and the kohanim participate in a unique...
by Rabbi Eliad Skuri | Aug 25, 2006
Rabbi Eliad Skuri Former Rosh Kollel in Kansas City Since I live in Tirat ha-Karmel, close to Haifa in northern Israel, and since I am writing this as a ceasefire goes into effect following a very difficult month in the north of the country, I would like to...
by Rabbi Ephrayim Back | Sep 9, 2005
Parshat Shoftim, as its name suggests, deals with matters related to judges and justice, law and order in the day-to-day workings of Jewish society. At the end of the parsha we read one of the strangest and most unique sections of the Torah: the commandment concerning...
by Rabbi Ephrayim Back | Aug 21, 2004
The beginning of the parsha brings together a number of different topics: at first we read about the judges who sit in the courts (i.e., the sphere of justice), then we read of the prohibition of planting “ashera” trees (associated with idolatry) near the stone altar...
