A FAIR TRIAL “By the testimony of two or three witnesses shall the condemned person be put to death; he shall not be put to death by the testimony of a single witness.” The notion of fair and transparent judicial procedures has been accepted as a fundamental basis of civilised societies. Both the beginning of...
SHECHITA “You may slaughter from your cattle and sheep…as I have commanded you.” (Devarim 12:21) Shechita is the Jewish religious, humane method of slaughtering permitted animals and poultry for food. It is mandated in the Torah – the source of all Jewish Law. It is the only method of producing kosher meat and poultry allowed...
ISRAEL’S EMBASSIES This week’s portion includes the passage well-known to us from the siddur: the second paragraph of the Shema. The conclusion of this passage seems difficult to accept at face value: “so that your days will be lengthened on the land which the L-d promised to your ancestors, to give to them.” The Torah...
TAKING RISKS The temptation to get that perfect selfie can have tragic consequences. More than 250 people have lost their lives picturing themselves at a toxic lake in Siberia. The Torah’s advice is enunciated in a verse in this week’s portion: Venishmartem me’od lenafshoteichem, which Rav Hirsch translates as: “You shall take very good care...
FATHER OF MERCY This Shabbat we will be reciting an extra prayer before Ashrei called Av Harachamim “Father of Mercy.” Its origins lie in the wake of the First Crusade. Many Jewish communities in Germany were decimated as mobs found an outlet for their religious zeal in killing Jews before making their way to the...
FLATTERY The recent announcement that the US Justice Department is reinstating the death penalty after a sixteen-year break has reopened the debate about the place of capital punishment in a modern democracy. The Torah prescribes capital punishment in principle for a number of transgressions. In practice, however, it was extremely rarely implemented, as severe conditions...
JOSEPH’S GIFT Rachie and I recently returned from a visit to Israel where we had a chance to visit some of the excavations around the southern wall of the Temple Mount. We saw the replica of the cornerstone of the southern wall, which bears the inscription that this was the place where a Cohen would...
CAN A DONKEY SIN? The episode of the talking donkey in this week’s portion reads more like an excerpt from a fairy tale than a passage from the bible. Yet it draws our attention to a fundamental teaching of Jewish philosophy. When the donkey speaks to Bilaam she says: “What have I done to you...
SPARE THE ROD In the fortieth year of their wandering in the desert, the Israelites arrive at Kadesh. They have no water to drink and they complain to Moses. G-d tells Moses to take the staff and speak to the rock. Instead, Moses strikes the rock. Although abundant water miraculously pours forth, Moses is severely...
WHO IS HOLY? When Korach makes a bid to be leader of the Jewish people, he doesn’t assert that he is wiser, richer or more powerful than Moses. He simply says: “All the community are holy. What right do you have to assert yourself over the rest of us?” (Bemidbar 16: 3.) In one sense,...
