Olive Seedlings - שתילי זיתים

Some time ago, I received the following series of questions from a (non-Jewish) college student from a course she was taking. These were q...

In the opening verse of  Shoshanas Yakov , we say, שושנת יעקב צהלה ושמחה בראותם יחד תכלת מרדכי – “The rose of Jacob (i.e. the Jewish people...

At the end of last week's parsha , after Joseph intepreted the dream of Pharaoh's wine steward and told him that he would be freed ...

One of the main features of the prayers of the High Holy Days is the recitation of the י"ג מדות של רחמים – the Thirteen Attributes of...

The bulk of Parshas   Ki Savo  discusses the prophecy of reward and punishment for the Jewish people. The Torah tells us that if we listen ...

At the end of Parshas Pinchas , we read of the various communal offerings made in the Temple on the mo'adim  - the special "appoint...

In Parshas Balak  we encounter the enigmatic case of the wicked prophet Balaam. The very idea of a wicked prophet raises obvious questions...

About 800 years ago, Rabbi Moses Maimonides saw the need for a formal compilation of the most fundamental Jewish beliefs. The beliefs enum...

At the end of  Parshas Behaaloscha  (Numbers 12) we read of the incident where Miriam and Aaron, the elder siblings of Moses, speak critica...

I frequently encounter people who claim that their basis for belief in God is "faith" or, if they are religious Jews, " emun...

Maimonides and most other authorities consider the obligation to believe in God to be one of the six hundred and thirteen  mitzvos , and un...