APPRECIATING THE TREES. Q. I was puzzled when I read in Pir’kei Avot that if a person is walking along rehearsing his studies and stops to look at a tree and remarks, “How beautiful that tree is!” deserves to lose his life. What has he or she done wrong? A. …

SANCTIONS FOR ADULTERY Q. I am aware that adultery is forbidden in Judaism, but what are the sanctions against a person who cheats on their spouse? A. The Biblical law concerning adultery (Ex. 20:13, Deut. 5:17) clearly establishes the principle of marital faithfulness. Husband and wife must be able to …

WHY BLAME OURSELVES? What strange people the sages were. Two Temples were laid waste, Jewish sovereignty was terminated, millennia of exile and persecution set in, and all that the sages could do was to blame the Jewish people for their own misfortunes. What did they say? “Umip’nei chatan’einu…” Jews fell …

LAW OF THE LAND. Q. Since there is a rule in the Talmud, “The law of the land is the law”, how come that rabbis sometimes criticise the government? A. The rule, “Dina D’Malchuta Dina” – “the Law of the Kingdom is the Law” is probably limited to matters such …

FASTING ON 17 TAMMUZ. Q. Now that we have a State of Israel do we still need to fast on 17 Tammuz? A. This is one of the four fasts commemorating the destruction of the Temple. 17 Tammuz marks the enemy’s breach in the walls of Jerusalem. Zechariah said (8:18-19) …

BLAMING RELIGION. Q. Are people right to blame religion for the world’s problems? A. Religion is not blameless. Its proponents need to identify the constructive elements in religious tradition and make them the agenda. Not that governments will like it if religion says it has some solutions to offer: the …

POVERTY. Q. Is there a Jewish view about poverty? A. Isn’t it Tevye who says in “Fiddler on the Roof” that poverty is no disgrace, but it’s no great honour either? This probably sums up the Jewish view of poverty. On the one hand, the Bible says that the poor …

IS GOD REAL OR AN IDEA? Q. Is God real or just an idea? A. Your actual question is longer than this. You say you are writing a book about how different religions envisage God. You say that some religions personalise or personify God whilst others regard Him as an …

POURING OUT THE WATER. Q. Why is it customary to pour out the water from vessels in a house where a person has died? A. There are several theories. A prosaic explanation is that this is an indirect way of making it known that a person has passed away. This …

TWO EXTREMES There couldn’t be a greater contrast than that of the two extremes that are depicted in this week’s parashah. There is the “sotah”, the woman who allows herself the extreme of licence, and the “nazir”, the person who is so strict that no transgression could ever arise on …

THE ALL-NIGHT TIKKUN. Staying up all night to study on Shavu’ot is back in fashion. Other religious all-nighters are also on the way back, such as long Sedarim on Pesach, when some people keep going until almost dawn, like the five rabbis in B’nei B’rak in Rabbi Akiva’s day. We …

THE RED-LETTER DATE. As a child Moses found that Shavu’ot was already a red-letter date in his life. Not just because the Torah was due to be given to him that day, even though that is so highly important. But some of the sages link Shavu’ot with the birth of …

JEWISH ANTISEMITES. What people think of Jews is motivated partly by observation and partly by prejudice. Observation leads decent outsiders to praise our sense of community and how we keep our standards even in unfriendly times. Prejudice picks up anti-Jewish slogans and beats us around the head with them. Prejudice …

THE UNUSUAL YOM-TOV. Many factors make Lag Ba’Omer a yom-tov like no other. We are not certain when it took hold of the Jewish spirit. We are unsure as to the real reason which brought it into being. It falls during a time of semi-mourning which is calculated in various …

ARE MIRACLES REALLY SO MIRACULOUS? Q. Are miracles all that they are made out to be? If we can split the atom, double the performance of the PC every six months and concoct the Internet, does Moses’ parting of the Red Sea seem so miraculous after all? A. Belief that …

ISRAEL AT 70. The 70th anniversary of the State of Israel is celebrated this week. Israel is one of the great achievements of modern history. But of course the backers of BDS don’t agree. They can’t be too proud of themselves because they haven’t achieved a thing apart from slogans …

8 STRINGS ON THE HARP. The eighth day of the consecration ceremonies of the sanctuary was dedicated to the induction of the kohanim. Logic tells us that the number eight was chosen for this purpose because the previous seven formed the first week in the history of the tabernacle. Yet …

A JEWISH VIEW OF BALL TAMPERING. Q.  The ball tampering scandal has shaken the cricket world. Is there a Jewish perspective? A.  Cricket has become a religion for some people, but there are moral limits to what bowlers, batsmen and others should allow themselves or be allowed. Better not to …

I WAS THERE. “In every generation a person must see himself as if they had come out of Egypt”. That’s what the Haggadah says. The Pesach story isn’t merely an ancient event involving our ancestors, but a personal experience in which we ourselves took part. We were there. We were …

Pesach features A TIMETABLE FOR THE SEDER? How long should the Seder take? Let me tell you what our family does. We have a timetable for Seder night. The first hour brings us to the meal, then we eat (for which we allocate another hour), then the second part of …