An Understanding Heart

If we see Judaism as central to our lives, we see everything through the lens of Torah , a Torah that also espouses certain universal values relevant to all Humankind.. Hence, in this election season we ought to think of the following: These universal values are defined by a sophisticated understanding of the Noahide laws as per the Rama (Teshuvah 10) and the Lubavitcher Rebbe 's many talks on this issue: The Noahide laws demand 1. Belief in G-d 2. Not to Blaspheme (To believe G-d is just) 3. Not to murder - and we know that insulting someone publicly is equivalent to murder 4. Not to steal or be dishonest in any way, avoid paying our obligations etc. 5. Not to engage in forbidden relationships 6. Not to eat a limb from a living animal, which is seen as including any unnecessary destruction of any flora or fauna (eating is fine) or annihilating a species or damaging the environment in ways not needed for human sustainment 7. To have courts of justice which means a

If we see Judaism as central to our lives, we see everything through the lens of Torah , a Torah that also espouses certain universal values relevant to all Humankind.. Hence, in this election season we ought to think of the following: These universal values are defined by a sophisticated understanding of the Noahide laws as per the Rama (Teshuvah 10) and the Lubavitcher Rebbe 's many talks on this issue: The Noahide laws demand 1. Belief in G-d 2. Not to Blaspheme (To believe G-d is just) 3. Not to murder - and we know that insulting someone publicly is equivalent to murder 4. Not to steal or be dishonest in any way, avoid paying our obligations etc. 5. Not to engage in forbidden relationships 6. Not to eat a limb from a living animal, which is seen as including any unnecessary destruction of any flora or fauna (eating is fine) or annihilating a species or damaging the environment in ways not needed for human sustainment 7. To have courts of justice which means a

BH 5727. 1967. 49 years ago the Land of Israel and her people stood alone facing Arab armies far larger and better equipped than Israel’s, armies ready to attack at any moment. This was a time of great danger. Fear entered the hearts of all Jews everywhere. Like this year, 5776 -  5727 was a year of Hakhel – gathering:  In ancient Israel, every seventh year was a  Shemitah  ("sabbatical") year. At the onset of the eighth year, on the second day of the holiday of Sukkot, sixteen days into the new year, all gathered in the Holy Temple for a dose of inspiration to tide them over for the next six years of wordly endeavors. This event was known as  Hakhel , "assemble!" It was the only event that required the attendance of every Jew, women, men and children, reminding us of the historic moment when our nation stood at Mount Sinai, when every member of our nation was present when G‑d lovingly gave us the Torah. Once the entire nation had gathered, the king, situat

Veracity or Virtue? Is honesty always the best policy? Can falsehood ever be a G-dly path? Truth is considered a primary moral virtue in many ethical systems. The Torah places great value on Truth in many places and ways. The Torah also permits significant deviations from truth as a matter of practice. Does this represent a conflict of the pragmatic and the ideal to which we surrender the ideal? Alternatively, perhaps, is there a unified theory extant to resolve these contradictions? “The Seal of the Blessed Holy One is Truth”. This oft-quoted statement is found in several places by Chazal . “Honesty is always the best policy” is a folk truism. Michel Montaigne  (the 17th century French essayist) writes in his Essays “That as the only thing that bonds people together is words falsehood strikes at the heart of any connection among Humans”. The Ohr Hachayim, in his first piece of commentary on Beraishit, points out that the account of creation allows several fundamental error

There has been a lot of discussion about the unbearable -to-many cost of Jewish day school education. It seems to me that the only way forward are very large contributions to the system as a whole - perhaps as an endowment - by the very wealthy in the Jewish community. Many are uncomfortable with the idea of the Jewish future being funded by a few plutocrats. Besides the fact that Jewish tradition articulates the idea that the only reason some of us are entrusted by Providence with large amounts of money, is to be able to make a significant difference in the world with it. There are several reasons why this seems to be the only way out of this problem in the USA. Indeed the whole cost of education crisis is an exclusively North American problem. You will note very little complaining on this score coming from the UK, Australia, and the Continent. This is because there is significant government aid in varying degrees to many Jewish schools - not all but there are always good Jud