Parashat Shoftim: Justice, Power, and Accountability in the Torah
Parashat Shoftim builds a framework of accountable governance from courts to monarchy, anchored by the doubled command to pursue justice without compromise.
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The Bedtime Shema for People Who Can’t Sleep
Kriat Shema al haMitah, the Bedtime Shema, is not simply a shortened version of the prayer we recite in synagogue. The Talmud teaches it as a distinct practice
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Parashat Re’eh: The Architecture of Sacred Choice and Covenantal Life
Parashat Re’eh calls Israel to see their moral choices with clarity, showing how covenant life is built law by law into the rhythms of eating, worship, economic justice, and shared celebration.
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Birkat Hamazon When You’re Eating Alone at your Desk
Eating even a small amount of bread at your desk – roughly a third to half a slice – triggers the full halachic obligation to say Birkat Hamazon. When eating alone, you skip the zimun opener but recite the same complete blessing text; solo benching is not a lesser or abbreviated practice. Birkat Hamazon should…
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Parashat Eikev: Memory, Humility, and the Dangers of Prosperity
Parashat Eikev confronts the spiritual dangers of prosperity, calling on classical commentary to show why accurate memory, humility, and care for the vulnerable are the foundations of covenant life.
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Tzedakah in the Age of GoFundMe: Who Actually Deserves your Money?
Jewish law establishes a concrete priority order for tzedakah: family first, then local poor, then broader need – and that order does not dissolve when giving moves online. The halachic principle aniyei ircha kodmim (the poor of your city come first) remains a live obligation even when a distant stranger’s story is more visible in…
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What If You Hate the God You Were Taught to Love?
Jewish tradition contains a sustained history of figures who argued with, protested, and confronted God – from Abraham to Moses to Job – and treats this as sacred rather than scandalous. Feeling anger or even hatred toward an inherited image of God does not place you outside Judaism; it may be the beginning of the…
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When your Best Friend Posts “From the River to the Sea”
Seeing this phrase from a close friend produces a specific kind of wound – political, personal, and deeply Jewish – and all three dimensions matter Jewish tradition’s mitzvah of tochacha (loving rebuke) in Leviticus 19 gives us both permission and structure for speaking up Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist communities differ on how to classify…
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Where Was God on October 7? Theodicy and Jewish Faith
Where was God on October 7th? The question that arrived before the blood had dried has not left. This article explores Jewish theodicy – from hester panim to post-Holocaust theology – presenting the multiple honest answers Judaism offers to the oldest question in religious life.
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Parashat Vaetchanan: Moshe’s Prayer, the Shema, and the Covenant of the Heart
Moshe’s plea to enter the Land of Israel is denied, but his response – intensified teaching and selfless devotion – reveals the highest form of covenantal service
