The Power of a Curse The book of Vayikra draws to a close by outlining the blessings that will follow if the people are faithful to their covenant with God. Then it describes the curses that will befall them if they are not. The general principle is clear. In biblical times, the fate of the […]
The Birth of Hope This week we read the Tochecha, the terrifying curses warning of what would happen to Israel if it betrayed its Divine mission. We read a prophecy of history gone wrong. If Israel loses its way spiritually, say the curses, it will lose physically, economically, and politically also. The nation will experience defeat […]
In Search of the Why The most often quoted of all Nietzsche’s remarks – indeed one of the most quoted sentences of all in recent times – is his statement that “One who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”[1] If life has a meaning, if our own life has a purpose, if there is […]
Minority Rights One of the most striking features of the Torah is its emphasis on love of, and vigilance toward, the ger, the stranger: Do not oppress a stranger; you yourselves know how it feels to be strangers, because you were strangers in Egypt. (Ex. 23:9) For the Lord your God is God of gods and […]
A Sense of Direction Smartphones can do amazing things – few more amazing than Waze, the Israeli-designed satellite navigation system acquired by Google in 2013. But there is one thing even Waze cannot do. It can tell you how to get there, but it cannot tell you where to go. That is something you must […]
The Politics of Responsibility The 26th chapter of Vayikra sets out with stunning clarity the terms of Jewish life under the covenant. On the one hand, there is an idyllic picture of the blessing of divine favor. If Israel follows God’s decrees and keeps His commands, there will be rain, the earth will yield its fruit, […]
“We The People” In Bechukotai, in the midst of one of the most searing curses ever to have been uttered to a nation by way of warning, the sages found a fleck of pure gold. Moses is describing a nation in flight from its enemies: I will bring despair into the hearts of those of […]
The Chronological Imagination I want, in this study, to look at one of Judaism’s most distinctive and least understood characteristics – the chronological imagination. The modern world was shaped by four revolutions, the English, the American, the French and the Russian. Two – the English and American – were inspired by the Hebrew Bible which […]
The Limits of the Free Market As I was writing this essay a newspaper headline caught my eye. It read, “The UK’s richest people have defied the double-dip recession to become even richer over the past year.” Despite the fact that most people have become poorer, or at least seen their real income stay static, […]
The Rejection of Rejection There is one aspect of Christianity that Jews, if we are to be honest, must reject, and that Christians, most notably Pope John XXIII, have begun to reject. It is the concept of rejection itself, the idea that Christianity represents G-d’s rejection of the Jewish people, the “old Israel.” This is […]
