Timeless Torah

G-d constantly speaks. Some of His words form a stream of divine energy that maintains the world’s existence; other are directed to a prophet. Its purpose is not to reveal the meaning of life, or to legislate new laws. That's covered in the Bible. Instead, prophecy was used to foretell the future, redirect a wayward Jewish society, warn of dire consequences, deliver a private message to a king, or convey a one-time-only command not contained in the Torah.  read more »

Is there a Jewish theory on government? Should a democratically elected Knesset have to listen to Rabbis? What if the issue is Synagogues to be destroyed in Gaza? Perhaps Rabbis should be consulted about houses of worship, but ignored when the topic is Movie Theatres open on Shabbat? What do you think? What does the Torah think?  read more »

Can there be a mitzvah that the Torah is ambivalent about? Apparently the commentaries believed so. Thus, while Maimonides regarded the appointment of a king as a bona-fide command, Ibn Ezra read it as an option. Abarbanel went further; he saw the passage as a mere concession to human weakness.  read more »

David furtively looked around. As he scanned the short span of highway that led to the city gates, he breathed a sigh of relief. The road was clear. He emerged from the thicket and moved towards the walled city. Suddenly from behind a rock, he saw whom he feared most, the brother of the man he had accidentally killed. Drawing upon a source of energy he was previously unaware of, he dashed to safety. He had entered a city of refuge.  read more »

These next two sections in the Torah deal with issues resulting from being in a state of war. Among the specific issues are the kohen who exhorted the people not to fear the enemy, a delineation of who was exempt from the fighting, details of how a siege should be conducted, and the subsequent treatment of certain captives. Surprisingly enough, in the midst of all this warfare, which is by its very nature destructive, the Torah demands that we do not destroy the local trees of the cities we are besieging.  read more »

Approximately twenty five years ago two Israeli scientists, Dr. Leo Sachs of the Weizmann Institute and Dr. M. Bat-Miriam of the Israeli Institute of the Biological Research, came forth with an astounding theory. They analyzed the fingerprints of 4,000 Jewish immigrants and after careful analysis the scientists came to the conclusion that Jewish fingerprints show identical common traits which are not discernible in other races or groups of people. In other words, the Jew has a distinctive fingerprint!  read more »