The untimely and completely supernatural death of Nadav and Avihu serves as one of the focal points of this week’s parasha. Nadav and Avihu were the sons of Aharon and Elisheva: “Aaron took to himself for a wife, Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.” more

One of the painful postscripts of the Holocaust was the saga of the many Jewish children hidden during the war, especially in churches and monasteries across Europe, but whose parents did not survive to find them when the war was over. Some of these children were six or seven years old, and though Jewish by birth, had for all intents and purposes grown up as Christian children with little recollection of their parents or their Jewish roots. more

The radio squawked with commands. I took out my pen and pad out to write down a list of code words for map locations that I would need to translate into coordinates for our impromptu mission. This … more

Before Parshat Pinchas buries itself in the sacrificial order for each holiday (what becomes the Maftir reading for those days), we hear the story of Tzlafchad’s daughters. Without … more

As the history of the Israelites in the wilderness is reviewed in Devarim, an interesting trend is presented. The nations of Eisav, Moav and Ammon are treated as closer than brothers with … more

There was once a king who had two advisers. The advisers had a luxurious life as long as they bowed to the whims of the king, which were many. He made unreasonable demands. He was harsh in his … more

The setting: Jerusalem some twenty centuries ago. The occasion: bringing first fruits to the Temple. Here is the scene as the Mishnah describes it. Throughout Israel, villagers would gather in … more

Moses, having set out the prologue and preamble to the covenant and its broad guiding principles, turns in our parsha, Re’eh, to the details, which occupy the greater part of the book of … more

Parshat Achrei Mot-Kedoshim By Rabbi Avi Billet Issue of April 23, 2010/ 9 Iyar, 5770 Media pundits and missionaries are famous for taking quotations out of context in order to promote their … more

Any serious student of history will recognize that there are moments, all too rare, when a door stands open, waiting for a person, a people, or even the entire world to walk through, and change life as we know it, forever. more