It should have been a great celebration. The Tabernacle, Israel’s first house of worship, was complete. For seven days, Moshe performed the inauguration. Now, the eighth day, the first of …
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By Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
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3/28/19
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At the start of this parsha is a cluster of laws that challenged and puzzled the commentators. They concern a woman who has just given birth. If she gives birth to a son, she is “unclean …
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By Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
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4/3/19
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This sedra, Tzav, speaking about sacrifices, prohibits the eating of blood: “Wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird …
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By Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
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3/20/19
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The American Declaration of Independence speaks of the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Recently, following the pioneering work of Martin Seligman, founder of …
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By Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
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3/13/19
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Pekudei has sometimes been called the accountant’s parsha, because it begins with audits of the money and materials donated to the Sanctuary. But beneath the dry surface lie two extraordinary …
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By Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
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3/6/19
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In Ki Tisa and in Vayakhel, we encounter the figure of Bezalel, a rare type in the Hebrew Bible — the artist, the craftsman, the shaper of beauty in the service of G-d, the man who, …
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By Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
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2/27/19
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It is a moment of the highest drama. In Ki Tisa, the Israelites, forty days after the greatest revelation in history, have made an idol. G-d threatens to destroy them. Moshe, exemplifying the …
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By Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
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2/20/19
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It is interesting to note the absence of Moshe from the parsha of Tetzaveh. For once, Moshe, the hero, the leader, the liberator, the lawgiver, is off-stage, and the only instance where the name …
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By Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
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2/13/19
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