The Fourteenth Principle Ask anyone how many principles of Jewish faith there are, and the answer is almost certain to be thirteen. That is a mark of the influence of Moses Maimonides, who was the first to formulate the Jewish creed in this way. The principles are taken from his Commentary to the Mishnah, in […]
The Blessing and the Curse The sedra of Ki Tavo contains one of the most terrifying passages in the Hebrew Bible, rivaled only by the parallel text in Vayikra/Leviticus 26. Both are known to tradition as tokhachah, “reprimand” or “rebuke.” Essentially they are warnings of the terrible fate that will overtake Jews if they neglect […]
Animal Welfare Today’s sedra with its panoply of legislation brings the dream to life. Yes, says Moses in effect, we have left Egypt. We have reached the brink of the promised land. There will be wars to fight, battles to win, land to settle. But do not think these things are ends in themselves. They […]
The Three Crowns The sedra of Shoftim comes as close as anywhere in the Torah to articulating a Jewish theory of government. The people were about to enter the land. They brought with them an already ancient tradition, begun in the days of Abraham and Sarah and continued through their children. In Egypt they had […]
Seeing and Hearing To appreciate the originality of Judaism we must grasp one fundamental point. Unlike almost every other culture in ancient and modern times, Judaism is a religion of sound, not sight; of hearing rather than seeing; of the word as against the image. The G-d encountered by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, by Moses […]
The Politics of Memory In Eikev Moses sets out a political doctrine of such wisdom that it can never become redundant or obsolete. He does it by way of a brilliant contrast between the ideal to which Israel is called, and the danger with which it is faced. This is the ideal: Observe the commands […]
In the Eyes of the Nations In Moses’ day the Israelites must have appeared to an outside observer as a small, undistinguished people, children of slaves, who did not yet possess a home. Even many generations later, after they had conquered the land, appointed a king, and built the Temple, they were a minor power […]
Words I have argued before, in the case of Vayikra and Bamidbar, that the Hebrew names of the Mosaic books, even though they seem uninformative, in fact convey important insights into the nature of the book. The same is true about the book of Devarim. The book of Devarim is known in English as Deuteronomy […]
Individual and Community The book of Bemidbar/Numbers draws to a close with an account of the cities of refuge – the places set apart as shelter for those found guilty of manslaughter, that is to say, those who caused a human death, but accidentally or inadvertently, without murderous intent. The cities were havens, shelters, places […]
Investing in the Future The Israelites are almost within sight of the promised land. They have waged a victorious campaign against the Midianites. We feel the tempo quicken. No longer are the Israelites in the desert. They are moving inexorably toward the Jordan, to the west of which lies their destination, the land ‘flowing with […]
