Near the end of Va’etchanan, so inconspicuously that we can sometimes miss it, is a statement with such far reaching implications that it challenges the impression that has prevailed thus … more

Did you ever really pray for something you wanted? I mean, really fervently, desperately, pray hard for something that was vitally important to you? If you did, and I think we all pray this way … more

Our parasha Va’etchanan contains one of the most often recited pasukim in the Torah, as it is found at the end of the first paragraph of the Aleinu: “V’yadata hayom … more

In 1897, Theodore Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. Though he defined himself as a secular Jew to whom Judaism was just an afterthought he gave form to a 2000 year … more

I have kept my time-worn copy of Roget’s Thesaurus in my personal library since I was in the seventh grade. There are those who scoff at words, deeming them to be much weaker than … more

If someone were to ask you to list the Hebrew names of the Five Books of the Torah, you would readily respond with Bereishit, Shemot, Bamidbar, Vayikra and Devarim. These, however, are by no … more

A major ill of our times is our inability to accept people for who they are. We often judge people based on exteriors or a one-time encounter. In describing the first of the two … more

In the last month of his life, Moses gathered the people. He instructed them about the laws they were to keep and reminded them of their history since the Exodus. That is the substance of the … more

As the Torah depicts the early travels of the Israelites, small details from famous stops are recalled. “They crossed the Red Sea toward the desert. They then traveled for three days … more

Every so often, I come across a sentence of another person’s writing which expresses one of my own thoughts in a language far superior to my own. Over the years, I have contemplated and … more