(Text here.)

Identifying False Prophets

Identifying False Prophets

Why Hide the Ark of the Covenant, Part 2

(Part 1) As the Ninth of Av approaches, I am reminded of the critical cultural revolution that is necessary for our people to get back to the state of affairs in which the national day of mourning becomes a holiday. The number 40 is one of those frequently recurring biblical motifs, like the numbers 7, … Continue reading →

The Land of Israel as Part of the Jewish People

The Torah applies halachoth that govern Jewish men to the land of Israel, and the condition of the land of Israel is THE indicator of how well the people of Israel are keeping the covenant. We are supposed to keep the land in our possession so that we can observe the commandments within the land. Selling the land so that it can not keep the essential commandments it is meant to keep is like a Jew selling himself into slavery to a gentile so that he would be compelled to violate the prohibitions of the Torah. It is a shortcut to the ultimate punishment: the land leaving Israelite hands, and the Jews being deprived of keeping the Torah, the vitality of their very existence.  Continue reading →

Was the Judge Gideon Actually a King?

Recently, the question came up regarding the Maimonidean halacha that only a king may take a concubine for himself. Other medieval authorities, like Nahmanides, assume that concubinage is permissible for ordinary people. In Judges 8:32, it says that the Judge Gideon had a concubine. According to Nahmanides, Gideon did nothing remarkable by having a concubine, … Continue reading →

The Longed-For Sunset of the Rabbinic Establishment

If 20,000 people would have shown up for Korban Pesah, it would have happened, just like the Exodus happened when about 600,000 men walked out of Egypt with their families when the opportunity presented itself. These organic revolutions started at the bottom, with the people, and nurtured new leadership that replaced the old. If the Rabbinate is not even ready to allow people to ritually purify themselves or to let them visit and pray at the site of the Temple, then it is certainly not prepared for building and running a temple. Continue reading →

Death of the Righteous as the Sanctification of God’s Name

 יָקָר בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה הַמָּוְתָה לַחֲסִידָיו This verse can literally mean that the death of God’s pious ones is seen as something valuable in God’s eyes, so to speak, but the classical commentators explain that the key word, yaqar, means something meant to be valuable or precious because it is rare. That is, God does n … Continue reading →

More On Returning Our Judges

A colleague claimed that the ideal Jewish government was that of the time of the Judges; I agree with that view. The Maimonidean viewpoint: although the Talmud says that Israel was commanded to both appoint a king and build the Temple, Maimonides’s formulations of these halachoth show that the kingdom does not have to be … Continue reading →

מתי התחיל איסור הבמות

שאלה: שמעתי פעם מהלך בשם הגרי”ז שאיסור הבמות תלוי בבחירת ירושלים ולא בבניית המקדש, ולכן הוא חל מרגע התגלות המלאך בגרן ארוונה, אם לא קודם לכן. כיצד זה מסתדר עם הפסוקים בדברי הימים ובמלכים פרק ג: דברי הימים ב פרק א פסוק ג – ו, ג-ו: (ג) וַיֵּלְכ֗וּ שְׁלֹמֹה֙ וְכָל־הַקָּהָ֣ל עִמּ֔וֹ לַבָּמָ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּגִבְע֑וֹן כִּי־שָׁ֣ם … Continue reading →