AIR TRAVEL & DIVINE PROTECTION Question.  Can Jews learn anything from the tragedy of the missing Malaysian Airlines plane? Answer.  The search for the missing aircraft raises countless problems including some halachic issues. The Hallel psalms tell us clearly, “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord: the earth …

  HERALDING THE SPRING. In Israel and the northern hemisphere, Pesach is the festival of spring. It falls in that month of Nisan which the Torah calls “Chodesh HaAviv”, the Spring Month. The slumbers of Nature are over: “Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the …

Written and submitted by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple. ALL ON YOUR OWN When the high priest entered the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, no-one else could be there with him (Lev. 16:17). Human beings are a social race: they know how true are the words of the story of …

Written and Submitted by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple. PESUCH ARTICLES.     THE ROLE OF RITUAL. Many people try to squeeze all the rituals out of Judaism. By abandoning Shabbat candles, Yom Kippur fasting, tallit and tefillin, shofar, Megillah, Menorah, sukkah, the Seder and so much else, they proudly announce …

Written and Submitted by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple. THREE NAMES FOR ONE SIDRA Having the name “M’tzora” for this week’s portion might not bother us in our generation, probably because we are used to it. But as the Lubavitcher Rebbe points out, the name was once a subject of controversy, …

Written and Submitted by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple.   INTERFAITH PRAYER Question.  Why can’t Jews and non-Jews pray together? Answer.  The prophet Isaiah foresees the day when “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isa. 56:7). If this means that all peoples will share a …

Written and Submitted by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple. THE MOTHER’S OFFERING When a woman bears a child the Torah says she has to bring an offering to the sanctuary (Lev. 12). So far so good, and we would probably interpret the offering as a mark of gratitude to God who …

Written and Submitted by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple. A PRISONER IN THE SYNAGOGUE. In this week’s sidra the command to build the sanctuary (Ex. 25:8) is not what we would expect. Instead of saying, “Let them build Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in its midst”, God promises, “…and …

Written and Submitted by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple.. SHOUTING AT GOD. The sages believed that God and Moses knew each other well. God allowed Moses to see things that were denied to other people; Moses spoke to God in terms that amaze us. In this sidra Moses says what other …

  WHY BE JEWISH? Every Jew has an attitude to Jewishness. For some it is negative; Heine said, “Judaism is not a religion. It is a misfortune.” But those who are negative are today very few. The 20th century has seen to that. The Holocaust confronted Jews with an ideology …

  Submitted by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple Question.. Is there a Jewish view of polygamy? Answer  A number of Biblical figures had more than one wife, but polygamy was never the Jewish ideal. When Eve was created as a wife for Adam, the Torah said, “Thus shall a man leave …

Submitted by Rabbi Dr. Raymond Apple.. CHRISTIANITY & THE SABBATH Q. Why did Christianity abandon Shabbat and focus on Sunday? A. The short answer is that the early Christians maintained Jewish practices for a lengthy period including the 7th-day Sabbath. In time they marked their separateness from Judaism by requiring …

Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple served for 32 years as the chief minister of the Great Synagogue, Sydney, and was Australia’s highest profile rabbi and the leading spokesperson for Jews and Judaism on the Australian continent. He is now retired and lives in Jerusalem. Rabbi Apple blogs at http://www.oztorah.com  oztorah@oztorah.com SHULE …