It was a lesson I learned long ago, when I was a high school teacher. I was new at this line of work and found that my greatest challenge was to find ways to motivate the students. I tried … more

I have long been intrigued by one passage in this week’s parsha, Beha’altecha. After a lengthy stay in the Sinai desert, the people are about to begin the second part of their … more

Remember what the L-rd, your G-d, did to Miriam on the way, when you went out of Egypt” (Devarim 24:9) is one of the Six Remembrances that many people recite at the end of Tefilat … more

T he festival of Shavuot is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Here is how Shavuot is described and defined in parshat Emor: “From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of … more

All beginning students of Torah face this obstacle: In their original, the primary texts of our Jewish tradition have no punctuation. There are neither commas nor periods in the Torah scroll. … more

HaRav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik zatzal was one of the 19th century’s greatest European Torah scholars. He is known as the Beit HaLevi after the title of his grand exposition of the … more

Three thousand years ago, King Solomon wrote in the book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) that there is a time and a season for everything under the sun. “A time to sing, and a time to dance, a … more

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about transitions and destinations. Perhaps it’s because in childhood, at precisely this time of year, my friends and I would relish the approach of … more

The parsha of Bamidbar is generally read on the Shabbat before Shavuot, z’man matan torateinu, the time of the giving of our law, the revelation at Sinai. The Sages, believing that nothing … more

Chazal’s name for the fourth book of the Torah is Sefer HaPekudim, the Book of the Counting. Little wonder, then, that it has been given the English title, “Numbers.” The … more