Timeless Torah

<em>Approaching the ex-soldier, the Rabbi warmly said, “Is what I’ve heard about you true?” Never before, had such compassionate words been spoken to the coarse man. Tears filled his eyes…and he changed his life. </em>

If people would sit together and speak their grievances, they would make peace. This is Torah’s realistic program. Be honest (“admonish”), achieve reconciliation (“no hate”), and one day, even (“love”) the other.  read more »

Generations of Jewish scholars measured the exact mechanics of the mitzvah “Love your neighbor.” Chassidus chartered a new course. Rather than extrapolating what the law was, it asked why the law was.  read more »

How different are you than the peasant confronted with a full length mirror for the first time. Frightened by the imposing image before him, he growled to scare the fierce looking figure only to discover that the other fellow growled back.  read more »

The Torah standard of loving others is the love of self. Since a self-hater is not capable of loving anyone, it is not that self-love is the measure of how much we love others; it is a prerequisite.  read more »

When a husband stops noticing his wife, she concludes, “Why bother? Why put time into my appearance when he never looks anyway.” The healthiest diet for a woman is a husband’s compliments.  read more »

As a Rabbi, I am a regular visitor at several hospitals. At one such facility, there is a local priest that I often encounter. At first, our greetings to each other were merely perfunctory. Lately however, I’ve noticed a change. The priest is not content with a civil hello, he is actively trying to draw me into conversation. Since I am not into sports, have no insights on the weather, and am not current on the latest movies, the exchanges are becoming theological.  read more »

The current two portions (Achrei Mos & Kedoshim) are filled with mitzvohs the way a pomegranate is filled with seeds. Well, maybe not quite. But Kedoshim alone does have more than 50 commandments! In fact, due to the pivotal nature of many of the laws mentioned therein, G-d had Moses disregard normal procedure. Traditionally, Moses would first begin transmitting what he had learned from G-d only to Aaron. After allowing his brother to digest the information, Aaron’s two sons would join the class. A third rendering was then done in the presence of the seventy elders...and only afterwards, was the rest of the community invited to participate in hearing of G-d’s teachings.  read more »

The law of laws, the mitzvah of mitzvohs is of course the commandment, “To love your fellow as yourself.” It is that which Rabbi Akiva called, “The great principle of the Torah.” Curiously enough, this ever-challenging directive is contained in the same sentence and follows the phrase, “You shall not take revenge or bear a grudge.”  read more »