NOT COMMANDMENTS Central to Shavu’ot is the Revelation on Mount Sinai, where God gave “Aseret HaDibrot” (Ex. 20:1-14). We call them “The Ten Commandments” in English, so why isn’t the Hebrew “Aseret HaMitzvot”? The Hebrew means “Ten Words”. “Word” has several meanings; in this context it is like the phrase, …

B’RACHAH OR KIDDUSH? Q.  In South Africa the refreshments after a Shabbat service are called a “b’rachah”.  Elsewhere it is a “kiddush”. Which one is right? A.  It is all very confusing, very interesting and very wonderful to see how the other half lives. Many communities have their own way …

HANDLING YOUR EMPLOYEES. Q.  What does the Talmud mean when it says that whoever acquires a servant acquires a master over himself? A.  The source is Kiddushin 20a.  In the literal sense it probably means that an employer is at his/her workers’ mercy. The workers know the business cannot continue …

HANSEN’S LAW. Pesach, when the Haggadah talks of parents whose children ask, “What are the testimonies and the statutes of the Torah?”, is the tailor-made occasion when observers of Jewish life get a reminder of Hansen’s Law which says, “What the son wishes to forget, the grandson wishes to remember”. …

WHAT IS THE QUESTION? Abraham Joshua Heschel said that our generation knows the answers but has forgotten the questions. With regard to Pesach we know that our ancestors were slaves in Egypt, God redeemed them and took them out across the Red Sea to become a free nation, and we …

PSALM 22 – THE PURIM STORY IN POETRY There is a rabbinic tradition that links Psalm 22 with Purim. The psalm is headed, “For the Leader, upon Ayelet HaShachar”. This phrase literally means “the hind of the morning”, which some views regard as a musical instrument or a melody. The …

JEWISH VIEW OF LAWYERS. Q.. A few weeks ago you answered a question about doctors and said that Judaism regarded them as doing God’s work. Is there a Jewish view of lawyers? A.. Despite the fact that so many Jews are lawyers, Judaism was ambivalent about whether it approved of …

DOES GOD CARE HOW WE WORSHIP HIM? Q. Whether in a synagogue, church or mosque, does God really care how people worship Him? A. Our prayer does more for the one who prays than for God. He is not improved by our praise. He is perfect already. Humans are susceptible …

ETHICS IN BUSINESS. Q.  How can some people be unethical in business even though they keep kosher homes? A.  I honestly don’t know. What you eat and how you live your life are part of one and the same Torah. There are no marks for picking and choosing the commandments …

TORAH IN SPACE. Q.  Can the mitzvot be observed in space? A. The general principle is that the mitzvot are for “all the days which you are alive on this earth” (Deut. 12:1). The view of Rabbi Benzion Firrer is that the mitzvot only apply in our territorial habitat and …

WOMEN IN THE MILITARY. Q.  Is there a Jewish view as to women in the military? A.  The Talmud (Kiddushin 2b) says, “It is the way of a man to make war and not the way of a woman”. On the whole this has been the fact of life, that …

EASTERN RELIGIONS. Q.  I know why Judaism disagrees with Christianity and Islam, but what does it say about Buddhism and Hinduism? A.  It rejects the negativism of Buddhism, the idea that you and I and the entire universe are nothing: When something in life goes wrong we cannot handle it …

THE REAL MOSES. Now that we have concluded the Book of B’reshit we have moved on from the patriarchs and meet up with Moses, who will be our companion to the very end of D’varim. Ahad HaAm asks the question, “What, essentially, was Moses?”  Note the question – not “What …

BEING A MENSCH. Q.  What does “being a Mensch” really mean? A.  When you learn the halachah, they tell you about the fifth volume of the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law). Joseph Karo wrote four volumes, but there is a further, unwritten book which tells you how to live …

JEWS WHO HAVE LEFT JUDAISM. Q.  Is a person who has left Judaism still Jewish? A.  The general principle is, “Even though one has sinned, he is a Jew” (Sanhedrin 44a).  The Talmud quotes a saying, “A myrtle, though it stands among reeds, is still a myrtle”.   Thus such a …

A SHAMMASH IN THE AGE OF ELECTRICITY. Q.  Why do we need a shammash these days when we have easy access to electricity? A.  The technical answer is that – regardless of using the shammash as a “servant” to kindle the lights – there must always be an extra light …

DIDN’T THEY KNOW ABOUT CHANUKAH? Q. The Talmud asks “What is Chanukah?” Didn’t the rabbis know? A. The question is indeed asked in the Talmud in tractate Shabbat 21b (cf. Megillat Ta’anit 9). Strangely, no such question is asked about the other festivals (there is a great deal in the …

CHOOSING YOUR OWN RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES. Q. A friend told me that Jews can choose their own mixture of religious observances. Is this correct? A. In theory no, because every Jew should observe all the mitzvot. But in practice we all do tend to have our own emphases. Some people are …

SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC Q. I am confused in regard to Judaism and the Zodiac signs. My understanding was that “diviners, necromancers and soothsayers” were forbidden. If this is the case, why and how have the Zodiac signs been incorporated into Judaism? A. The idea of the Zodiac, a notional …

HARRY POTTER. Q. Is it wrong to read the Harry Potter books given that they are about witchcraft and wizardry? A. Most people would say they are harmless fun and I even hear of Jewish parodies about “Chayyim Po-tter” (“po-tter” could be taken as a Hebrew verb meaning to excuse …