http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php en mforr@alteryourview.com Copyright 2009 2009-11-08T05:00:49+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/holy_encounter/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/holy_encounter/#When:20:00:16Z You shall walk behind Adonai your God.” Thus, Moses literally declares in Deuteronomy chapter 13. Rabbi Chama bar Chanina reacts by asking the elemental questions (Sota 14a): “What does this mean? Is it possible for a human to ‘walk behind’ God?” Chama interprets the literal words metaphorically. “This verse means that we should emulate God’s actions.” Rabbi Chama… Torah 2009-11-04T20:00:16+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/be_a_blessing/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/be_a_blessing/#When:20:00:48Z Be a blessing. What an odd imperative. Has anyone ever directed you to be a blessing? “Be a mentsch.” Yes, I’ve heard that. “Be a success.” “Be a contender.” But “Be a blessing?” In this week’s Torah reading, God has directed Abraham to go forth from his father’s house to the land that God will show him and… Torah 2009-10-29T20:00:48+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/powerful_force_of_nature/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/powerful_force_of_nature/#When:19:31:11Z A broken water main here or a tsunami across the globe both express the power of water. We cannot always contain this simple substance in a cup or a bathtub. Overflowing rivers and similar floods strike fear in the hearts of those who have survived such events and may fear their next tragedy. In the Land of Israel,… Torah 2009-10-22T19:31:11+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/spiritual_dignity/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/spiritual_dignity/#When:20:00:07Z Among the first things made, shortly after the world was created, was clothing, first by man and then by G-d. Perhaps that explains the heavy involvement by Jewish people in the “shmatte trade.” It is one of the first things discussed in the Torah portion of Bereshit after the world was created. So how did it all happen?… Torah 2009-10-15T20:00:07+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/strength_and_courage/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/strength_and_courage/#When:20:00:00Z Strength comes in many forms. So says the Haftorah we read for Simchat Torah. In a beautiful choice of Haftorah, on the festival when we complete the reading of the Torah and begin it again, the rabbis chose for the prophetic reading the opening chapter of the book of Joshua. Among the reasons suggested for this choice are… Torah 2009-10-08T20:00:00+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/lament_to_joy/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/lament_to_joy/#When:20:00:37Z What began with the destruction of one house (the ancient Temple in Jerusalem on Tisha B’Av) now ends with the building of another house, the sukkah. When Sukkot is over, we move on into the New Year having gone from descent to ascent. From the lowest emotional point in the calendar, we end up at what is arguably… Torah 2009-10-01T20:00:37+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/perfect_justice/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/perfect_justice/#When:08:00:10Z Read the following words of the parshah and you are filled with a sense of dread: “I lift my hand to heaven and declare As surely as I live forever when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate Me ... Rejoice… Torah 2009-09-24T08:00:10+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/rosh_hashanah/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/rosh_hashanah/#When:20:00:58Z “Spend one day a year getting a complete health exam Or the next 364 wishing you had.” “Treat your body like your life depends upon it … It goes way beyond your average check-up, And it’s only at Mount Sinai.” The text is an ad for Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and its Executive Health Program. It… Torah 2009-09-17T20:00:58+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/real_punchlines/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/real_punchlines/#When:18:54:45Z Who doesn’t love a good punchline? In this week’s parshah, there is a phrase that became a punchline and a happy ending in a Talmud passage: Lo BaShamayim Hee — “Torah is not found in Heaven” (Deut. 30:12). When my father read me fairy tales, after he would read “and they lived happily ever after,” I would always… Torah 2009-09-10T18:54:45+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/flow_of_information/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/flow_of_information/#When:20:00:42Z Yehuda Amichai wrote, “Sheltered by good news, sheltered even by the bad, now we are at home.” The late Israeli poet was capturing the great hope and comfort that come from being at home. Shelter relates to more than just protection from the weather, night and attack. In fact, many of us realize that our homes do not… Torah 2009-09-03T20:00:42+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/warrior_nation/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/warrior_nation/#When:20:00:56Z We Jews are a nation of warriors. Not just warriors, but exceptional warriors, unlike the stereotype of the weak ghetto Jew. All we need to do is to look back in our history to the period of the Prophets, to King David, Samson, Gideon and many others who fought valiantly to protect and strengthen the Land of Israel,… Torah 2009-08-27T20:00:56+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/going_to_court/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/going_to_court/#When:20:00:29Z Elul has arrived with a piercing blast. If the shofar somehow failed to set the stage for the Yamim Noraim, this week’s parashah, Parshat Shoftim, takes up the call. Its opening words — Shoftim ve shotrim titen lekha, you shall appoint judges and officials for your tribes — immediately invoke the images of the holidays. The parashah,… Torah 2009-08-20T20:00:29+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/knowing_god/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/knowing_god/#When:20:00:27Z Sometimes, Torah provides answers and we supply the questions, and sometimes Torah provides the questions that we must answer (as best we can). Sometimes, the wisdom and insight is right there on the surface, and sometimes a spark is provided for us to dig a little deeper and, in our turning of it and wrestling, we move closer… Torah 2009-08-13T20:00:27+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/find_your_voice/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/find_your_voice/#When:20:00:10Z The scene was as sickening as it was heartbreaking. Orthodox Jews dressed in streimels and caftans, watched and egged on by compatriots, were once again throwing stones on Shabbat. At whom? People driving in and out of a parking lot which the Jerusalem municipality decided to allow to be open for this occasion. Those representing the “Orthodox” element… Torah 2009-08-06T20:00:10+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/shadowy_memories/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/shadowy_memories/#When:05:00:34Z
]]>The children of Holocaust survivors often describe the experience of having grown up in a home of shadowy memories. The single defining event of their parents’ lives — the Shoah — hung as a specter over their family because it was never explicitly talked about, or sometimes even referred to. Yet it was there — it haunted every… Torah 2008-12-05T05:00:34+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/good_government/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/good_government/#When:04:00:52Z
]]>“Hevei mitpallel bishlomah shel malkhut; Pray for the well-being of the administration” (Mishnah Avot 3:2). This simple aphorism by Rabbi Chanania, a priestly official at the Temple in the middle of the first century C.E., became the source of a long-standing custom to pray for the welfare of the government after returning the Torah on Shabbat morning.… Torah 2008-11-14T04:00:52+00:00