Judaism/Spirituality

 COUNTING THE COMMANDS. Enshrined in the name of the sidra is the verb “tz-v-h”, to command. Everyone knows the noun “mitzvah” which derives from this verb. (Even those who claim to know no Hebrew actually are aware of a bevy of Hebrew words, beginning with “shalom” and covering a host …

THE REAL STORY OF PURIM. Question.   Why do we make such a fuss about Purim when the whole story was a minor episode in the life of a Diaspora community, away from the mainstream of Jewish history? Answer.     This is the generally accepted interpretation of Purim, but it is …

HOW TO BE A DONOR. When the historian Cecil Roth called the post-war period the Philanthropic Age he had in mind the massive needs of Israel and the Jewish world in constructing a new age. Roth was speaking in the 1960s and since then the challenges have not grown any …

LIVING WITH GUILT. Question.     I am annoyed with myself for doing the wrong thing. How can I get over my guilt? Answer.        You can’t. You can live with guilt, but use it constructively. Instead of obsessing, recognise where you went wrong, and use that knowledge to do right. …

THESE – AND THESE. The sidra opens with an “and”: “And these are the judgments you shall place before them”. The “and” clearly links this sidra with last week’s, which describes the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, when, hushed into silence, the whole of creation waited for the …

EXECUTING TERRORISTS. Question.    Should terrorists who commit murder be executed? Answer.      Written and conventional legal systems all agree that murder is wrong. Human life, without distinction as to creed, colour or ethnicity, is sacred and must be preserved. Even the person who carries out a killing has …

SOUND OR SILENCE? Read chapter 19 of Sh’mot and see how many words are about noise – thunder, lightning, voice, speech. Read midrashic commentary and see how many words are about silence – hush, quiet, serenity, calm. Which set of words is more true? They both are. The Giving of …

MAZEL TOV TO THE TREES. Mazel tov to the trees. This week, on 15 Sh’vat, they will have their new year. Not that they are probably aware of it, though there is a Jewish belief that nature does have a form of self-awareness and even the trees and plants praise …

EGYPTIAN SHAME. The Torah readings in recent weeks dealt with the ten plagues. We find them listed in short form in the Haggadah. They are part of Jewish history. But they don’t seem to figure in the Egyptian records. Strange, since they must have devastated the country and brought immense …

PLAGIARISM. Question.     I read an article which sounded familiar. I checked and found that the author had lifted and passed off as his own work whole sections from something I had written. This is against Jewish law, isn’t it? Answer.        Plagiarism, the theft of another …

WHEN WE GET THERE.  As the plagues unfold things get more and more desperate for Pharaoh and the Egyptians until Pharaoh is almost ready to cave in (Ex. 10). He actually talks about letting the Israelites go to worship God in the wilderness but he asks who will be going …

FREE WILL. Question.  Does Judaism believe that human beings really have free will? Answer.    The question has two aspects: 1. Do we choose what to do or are we controlled by God? 2. If we have free choice, does God know in advance what we will choose? Every Jewish …

I APPEARED. Opening the sidra, God tells Moses, “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as Almighty God, but by My Name ‘HaShem’ I did not make Myself known to them” (Ex. 6:2). The first thing we learn from these words is that God does not appear to anyone in …

STATUS OF THE FATHER. Question.   Everyone knows that the child of a Jewish mother is regarded as Jewish, regardless of who the father is.  If both parents are Jewish, does the father determine any aspect of the child’s Jewish identity? Answer.     The father determines whether one is a Kohen (one …

TASKMASTERS. The labour of the Israelite slaves in Egypt was superintended by “sarei missim”, which the translators usually render “taskmasters” (Ex. 1:11). “Mas”, the singular of “missim”, is something imposed upon you by force. In modern Hebrew it conveys the idea of imposed taxation. Hence a better translation of “sarei …

iPHONES & IDOLATRY. Question.   When I was younger I took great care of my car. One day my grandfather saw me kneeling next to my car waxing it and told me that what I was doing was akin to idol worship. Today’s youth think nothing of spending the night …

MOLDING YOUR OWN DESTINY. On his death bed Jacob wants to reveal the future to his children – “Gather and let me tell you what will befall you at the end of days” – but God prevents this from happening (Rashi on Gen. 49:1). We can understand that knowing the …

HOW MUCH ARE YOU WORTH? In ancient Israel one could donate to the sanctuary the sum of money which represented the valuation a person placed upon himself or one of the family. It was a technical procedure. The amount of the valuation ranged from 5 to 50 shekels depending on …

Apologies to Rabbi Apple and readers. This should have been posted a few days ago but wit all the holidays it got completely overlooked. LOUD & QUIET VOICE. After a lot of drama. Joseph and his brothers are finally reconciled. Years of estrangement fall away. All of Egypt soon hears …

JEWS AS THE DEVIL. Question.  Why do medieval texts think the Jew is a devil? Answer.    Joshua Trachtenberg analyses the story in his book, “The Devil and the Jews: The Medieval Conception of the Jew and Its Relation to Modern Anti-Semitism”, 1943. He makes it clear that whoever did …