This week’s Parsha, Shoftim, begins with this famous declaration: Tzedek, tzedek tirdof — Justice, justice thou shalt pursue. Deuteronomy 16:20 This is one of the central declarations of the Torah, echoed in many other instructions. For example: You shall not be partial in judgment; hear out low and high alike. Decide justly between the Israelite […]
Archive | Deuteronomy
The Shma — Attention, Please
(This week’s Torah portion contains the Shma Yisrael and the paragraph that immediately follows, V’ahavta (“You shall love…). Following is a teaching about these passages that I originally offered during Yom Kippur, 5769/2008. Shabbat Shalom, JK) Shma Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad. (Deuteronomy 6:4) Shma Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad. Conventionally translated as “Hear, O […]
D’varim: Finding Your Voice
B’ever ha’Yarden b’eretz Moav ho’il Moshe be’er et hatorah hazot On the far side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this Torah (Deuteronomy 1:5) The English name of the fifth and final book of the Five Books of Moses is “Deuteronomy”. Deuteronomy is a Greek term that means “repetition […]
V’zot Ha’bracha: Moses Teaches Us How To Die
(This piece is adapted from a talk I delivered on Yom Kippur, 1997) V’zot ha’bracha asher berach Moshe, ish ha’elohim, et B’nai Yisrael lifnei moto. This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, bade the Children of Israel farewell before he died. (Deuteronomy 33:1) That poignant line opens the very last portion […]