Return again, return again, return to the land of your soul…
- Reb Shlomo Carlebach
Parshat Nitzavim contains the “Parsha of Teshuvah.” After describing the punishments that will befall the Jewish People should they stray from God, the Torah describes a process of Teshuvah, return:
And it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, then you shall take it to heart among all the nations, where Hashem your God has dispersed you. And you shall return unto …

Anxiety begins to set in as the Yemei Hadin, the Days of Judgment, quickly approach. The month of Elul beckons us to do teshuvah: to return to Hashem, His Torah and mitzvot. The shofar is sounded each day, blaring like a six am alarm clock; waking us up to make amends, ask for forgiveness, and forgive.
This is time for personal reflection.
The selichot prayers also wake us up- literally and figuratively. Selichot, the additional service that begins this Saturday Night for those who follow the Ashkenazic practice, …

The school year has just begun. As parents, our children’s education is a top priority. As Jews, our concern is not just with the material that is covered, but the subtler elements of education: what is imbued in our children, Torah values, moral development; the affective level of education.
Every seven years, during the festival of Sukkot, the entire Jewish People are commanded to gather together for “hakhel,” a special mitzvah performed in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The King would read selections from the book of Devarim as …

Parshat Ki Tavo begins with the mitzvah of hava’at habikkurim, offering the first fruits of the seven species for which the Land of Israel is praised.
The farmer schleps his new fruit up to Yerushalayim and the Torah provides a formula for him to recite while offering his bikkurim. The words are familiar as they are found in the Haggdah shel Pesach.
The language is difficult to understand, however, for when he begins his declaration he states, “higadeti hayom – I have declared today….” He speaks in the past tense, …

Martin Buber, the German-Jewish philosopher, was once interrupted by a student while he was busy meditating on something in his study. Amid his spiritual reverie, he failed to give the visitor his time despite the distraught look on his student’s face. Buber was later informed that the student committed suicide. He realized that he should have been there for this person and subsequently spent the rest of life trying to give those around him his full attention.
Parshat Ki Teitzei contains the mitzvah of sending away the mother …

The passage of the ben sorer u’moreh, the rebellious son, is perhaps one of the most difficult passages in the Torah to understand. A rebellious child commits a few seemingly minor infractions and is put to death. His crime? Stealing his parents money and fressing on meat and wine.
Does his gluttony warrant such a harsh treatment? Does his punishment fit the crime?
To make things even more difficult, our Sages teach (Sanhedrin 71a): “The ben sorer u’moreh never existed and never will exist. Why is it …

In Parshat Shoftim, we find many interesting mitzvot directed at the King of Israel. Among them is the mitzvah to write two sifrei Torah:
And it shall be, when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this Torah in a scroll, out of that which is before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear the LORD his G-d, to keep all …

“See, I present before you today a blessing and a curse.” (Devarim 11:26)
Our parsha begins with these powerful words. Yet, the language is challenging. The verse begins with the word “re’eh- see” in singular and then shifts to “lifneichem- you,” plural.
Why does the pasuk shift from singular to plural?
Ibn Ezra (11th-12th C. Spain), in his commentary, offers an explanation so simple, so elegant, yet so profound. In three words he writes: “l’chol echad yidabeir.” Yes, Moshe is addressing the entire Jewish people, but he is speaking …

The Torah prohibits expressing grief through injury to the self:
“You are children to Hashem, your G-d- you shall not cut yourselves and you shall not make a bald spot between your eyes for a dead person.” (Devarim 14:1)
Self- mutilation and excessive grief are not ways in which we mourn. But why does the pasuk begin, “Banim atem l’Hashem Elokaichem- You are children to Hashem, your G-d…?”
What does the prohibition of inappropriate mourning have to do with the parent-child relationship that we share with G-d?
Sforno (16th C. …