EFRAT, Israel – “In the second month [Iyar] on the afternoon of the fourteenth day, he shall prepare it [the second Passover Sacrifice]” (Numbers 9:11). One of the many injunctions in this week’s portion is that of Pessach Sheni – “second Passover” – a “second chance” for anyone who was ritually impure on Passover to [ Read More...]

EFRAT, Israel – This week’s reading of Naso describes the “Sota,” the woman who acts immodestly. At the very least, she sequesters herself alone with a man despite the fact that her husband warned her against seeing that person. She therefore undergoes the test of the bitter waters. However, during the spring holiday period, we [ Read More...]

EFRAT, Israel – “Wherever you go, I shall go… Your nation will be my nation, your God my God…” (Ruth 1:16). Despite the conventional wisdom that Judaism attempts to “push away” converts, and despite the many horror stories about aspiring converts who were alienated, discouraged and even “turned off” by the road blocks they experienced [ Read More...]

EFRAT, Israel – “If your brother becomes impoverished and his support is faltering when he is with you, you must strengthen him, the stranger and resident [ger vetoshav], so that his life may be preserved with you,” (Leviticus 25:35). Now that after 2,000 years of exile, we have returned to our homeland and become a [ Read More...]

EFRAT, Israel – “I shall be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel…” (Leviticus 22:32). Neither the Bible nor Jewish law has ever seen martyrdom as an ideal to be courted. There is the commandment that “G-d must be sanctified,” however, prior to this commandment for martyrdom, we find in last week’s portion [ Read More...]

EFRAT, Israel – “You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you shall surely instruct your fellow and do not bear a sin because of him” (Leviticus 19:17). Soon after my aliya, I took a bus through downtown Jerusalem. I didn’t particularly notice a young woman in the back of the bus who sat [ Read More...]

By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Contributing Columnist EFRAT, Israel – “Then he shall sprinkle [the mixture] seven times upon the person being purified from the tzara’at; he shall purify him and set the live bird free upon the open field” (Leviticus 14:7). One of the strangest and most primitive-sounding rituals of the Bible surrounds the purification [ Read More...]

By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Contributing Columnist EFRAT, Israel—This week’s Torah reading presents an awesome and awful scene of the heights of ecstasy merged with the depth of despair: exaltation together with extinction, ineffable transcendence alongside inexplicable tragedy. The desert Sanctuary is being dedicated, sacrifices to the Almighty are offered, and Moses and Aaron bless the [ Read More...]

By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Contributing Columnist Efrat, Israel—“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry out to me? Speak to the Children of Israel and let them travel’” (Exodus 14:15). The climax of the Festival of Passover, the festival’s seventh day which we will be celebrating this week, commemorates the splitting of the Re(e)d [ Read More...]

By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Contributing Columnist EFRAT, Israel—“Behold, I send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And he [Elijah] will turn [back to G-d] the hearts of the parents through their children and the hearts of the children through their parents” (Malachi 3:23-24). The Shabbat [ Read More...]