Especially in Israel, religious coercion is automatically considered something negative, destructive and harmful. Yet, almost no one grows on their own. Their upbringing clearly included some level of coercion. By examining the story of the giving of the Torah, we'll look at the way God coerced the Jewish people, and how that might instruct the way we raise our own children.
We often think of our own frumkeit in terms of the relationship we have with God, giving little thought to how our spirituality affects those around us, and those that we're closest with. The story of Kayin and Hevel has a great deal to teach us not only about brotherly love, but about our yearning for spirituality, competitiveness in religiosity, and the need for repentance and improvement.
From the Mitzvah of Mikra Bikkurim we move to a powerful piece from Rav Kook about the purpose and meaning behind the recitation of Brachot
How we view "our" money says a great deal about our world view...
After a short diversion into an amazingly Zionistic Rashi found in the second chapter of Shema, we return to the first chapter of Shema to ask: How can God command us to Love Him? It's a classic question, and we discuss several of the classic answers and how we can impart them into our daily lives.
While Va'etchanan teaches us a great deal about the causes of and reasons for calamities that befall the Jewish people, it also conveys critical parenting lessons in the process.
We examine the textual challenge of how the story of the Meraglim is described differently in Devarim and in Bamidbar. Using these distinctions, we try and draw lessons both about the tragedy in the desert and the lessons that we can derive from it for our daily lives.
The requests of the tribes of Reuven and Gad to remain on the East Bank of the Jordan River elicits a powerful and negative reaction from Moshe. We discuss the problems related to their request, which leads us into communal and personal issues, shtiebelization, Israel politics, and even the challenge of Aliyah.
Through a careful reading of both the text, commentaries and midrashim on the story of the daughters of Tzelafchad, we'll discuss some of the challenges that they had to overcome and the way that they affected the Jewish people, even today.
Balak is a strange parshah with even stranger details. But underneath the strange and unusual details lies a theme that has marked the strength of the Jewish people for all time: our sexual propriety and sense of sexual modesty.
This shiur begins with a discussion of the phenomenon of Israeli religious widows who marry but do not register their marriage in order to continue receiving their pensions. This issue frames the story of Mei Merivah - the episode which results in Moshe's punishment and his banishment from the Land of Israel.
