There is no obligation to have a favorite biblical verse. In the Talmud, a couple of Rabbis identify favorite verses, but most do not. If I had to choose, I would select a verse from this week’s parasha, Deut. 4:9 — “Guard your soul carefully.” This verse has grown in importance in our own day, although it was always a crucial reminder given the snares and distractions of life. I’d like to suggest three ways we need to learn to guard our souls better in this world. 1. The overemphasis on bodies. Culturally, we are worshippers of the physical. We…
Rabbi Wolpe - ADL Impressions
August
Devarim – History and Vision
Before Israel enters the land, Moses recounts their history. He discusses the wandering, the gathering at Sinai, the episode of the scouts, and much more. This parashah of the Torah, Devarim, is always read before the commemoration of destruction on Tisha B’av. The Shabbat, because of the haftorah reading from Isaiah, is known as Shabbat Chazon, the Sabbath of a vision. The title is taken from the first words of the book in which the prophet’s vision is introduced. In one Shabbat, we read of a look back and a vision of the future. What has all of this to…
Matot-Masei – The Promise Then and Now
After the final campaign east of the Jordan river, the nation is ready to advance into Israel and enter the Promised Land. But there are two, eventually two-and-a-half, tribes that want to stay in the land they have recently conquered. They recognize the delicacy of the request. Israel is the Promised Land and they are willingly absenting themselves. What follows is a subtle but beautiful example of what it is to ask, and what it means to listen. The Gadites and Reubenites approach Moses, Eliezer the priest, and the chieftains of the community (Numbers 32:2). We are told, “And they…
July
Pinchas – What About the Children?
When I was in college, I studied for a year abroad in Scotland. There I met an English student named Justin who told me, quite plainly, that he had never liked Jews. When I asked him why, he explained that his father, whom he revered, had always disliked Jews. I still remember Justin’s face as he told me that he just could not come to grips with the idea that his father could be wrong. In this week’s parasha, we come across a strange verse inserted in the genealogical lists of which the Torah is so fond. Suddenly in recounting…
Balak – Do You Know the Meaning of This Day?
Tuesday is the the 17th day of the month of Tammuz. For many Jews this date holds no significance, but in Jewish history and observance, it matters a lot. And I recently had two experiences that reminded me anew why this day is so significant. Five calamities are said to have occurred on that date, the most important being the Romans breaching of the outer walls of the Jerusalem. Three weeks later, the Temple was destroyed, a catastrophe commemorated by Tisha B’av. The 17th of Tammuz is a minor fast day. Why should we fast for the beginning of the…
Korach – A Dream Deferred
The Israelites have been wandering for a long time. Why does the rebellion of Korach occur now in the biblical story? Rabbi Baruch Epstein, the author of Torah Temimah, in his commentary Tosefet Bracha, explains: There were always dissatisfactions, but the people held them in check for they had a great expectation. They were about to enter the land. In last week’s Torah portion, however, the spies returned with their evil report. God’s wrath was inflamed and God spoke through Moses. “In this very desert shall your carcasses fall. Of all you who were recorded in your various lists from age…
June
Sh’lach – Dignity First
Rabbi Abraham Twerski recounts how his parents used to discipline him. They would not say, “You are not good.” They would not even say, “What you did is not good.” Rather, explains Rabbi Twerski, they would say, “What you did is not worthy of you.” This is the Jewish way. First, you affirm the essential dignity of the human being and only then may one criticize. The Torah is filled with the misdeeds and depredations of Israel and the surrounding nations. But what is the first statement about human beings? That we are all in the image of God. Dignity…
Beha’alotcha – What Should I Say?
The title word of the book Bamidbar (In the Wilderness) is connected by rabbinic tradition with dibur (speech). The book and the word intertwine; portable cultures rely on words. The desert brings a range of speech: First, there is the speech of complaint, the ancient kvetch. The Israelites are unhappy with the manna and demand meat. According to the Rabbis, the manna could taste like whatever one wished, so why would they complain? An acute suggestion from R. Jonathan Eybeschutz explains that everyone collected the manna equally. Therefore, no one could be better than his or her neighbors. They claimed…
Shavuot – A New Idea of God
The Israelites stood at Sinai. There was thunder and lightning and the sense that something epochal in history was unfolding. To this very day, what is called the revelation at Sinai is central to Jewish tradition and the ten commandments are central to the world. What precisely was revealed that made so much of a difference? There are many ways to answer this question, but let me suggest one: In the ancient world, as we see when we read Homer or other myths, how the gods felt about you depended upon how you treated them. Give them what they want…
Bamidbar – Children of the Wilderness
Anti-Memoirs, the autobiography of the French writer, adventurer, and critic André Malraux, begins with a very pointed story. During the war, Malraux once escaped the Germans in the company of a parish priest. When the two cross paths years later, Malraux asks his former companion what he has learned about human nature from a decade and more of hearing personal confessions. Two things, the priest replies. First, that people are much unhappier than one would think; second, “there is no such thing as a grownup.” The first verse of the book of Numbers is: “The Lord spoke to Moses in…
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