“We the People” In the final parsha of the book of Leviticus, 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: Just the sound […]
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 […]
Evolution or Revolution? There are, it is sometimes said, no controlled experiments in history. Every society, every age, and every set of circumstances is unique. If so, there is no science of history. There are no universal rules to guide the destiny of nations. Yet this is not quite true. The history of the past […]
We are What We do not Own The late Maurice and Vivienne Wohl were one of the most remarkable couples I ever met. They were a study in contrasts. Maurice was quiet, introspective, reflective and reserved. Vivienne was outgoing and vivacious, a people person in the truest sense. They complemented one another perfectly: two halves […]
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 […]
Family Feeling I argued in Covenant and Conversation Kedoshim that Judaism is more than an ethnicity. It is a call to holiness. In one sense, however, there is an important ethnic dimension to Judaism. It is best captured in the 1980’s joke about an advertising campaign in New York. Throughout the city there were giant posters with […]
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, […]
Think Long In last week’s parsha and this there are two quite similar commands, both of which have to do with counting time. Last week we read about the counting of the omer, the forty nine days between the second day of Pesach and Shavuot: From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought […]
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, […]
