Posts Tagged: Ki Tavo
Joy and Community Are Essential to Jewish Fulfillment — Even in the Darkest of Times
In his evocative 1964 book, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, C.S. Lewis used a series of fictional letters to a friend to explore various aspects...
Examining the History of Mount Gerizim: The Samaritans’ Holy Temple
After two weeks of the most important laws of the Torah, Moses now gives instructions about what the Jewish people should do when they enter...
Parshat Ki Tavo: Rewards and Punishment
The Torah this week contains blessings and warnings. It declares that if the people are loyal, God will protect them, the rains will come at...
Learning Never Ends
Over the past week, schools across the United States reopened for in-person learning, anticipating the first uninterrupted academic year since 2018-19. But while just a...
The Light of Israel and the Jewish People
In a recent article, I described my trip to Israel with our son Meir, who is drafting into the IDF. One thing I didn’t mention was...
Parshat Ki Tavo: Be Silent and Listen
During our first coronavirus lockdown, there was one question I was asked more than any other: What about prayer? Just when we needed it the...
The Jews Are a Nation of Storytellers
Howard Gardner, professor of education and psychology at Harvard University, is one of the great minds of our time. He is best known for his...
Ki Tavo: The Pursuit of Happiness
How does one measure happiness? It seems like a simple question, but as it turns out, there is no simple answer. Researchers struggle to define happiness,...
The Story We Tell
The setting: Jerusalem some 20 centuries ago. The occasion: bringing first fruits to the Temple. Here is the scene as the Mishnah describes it: Throughout...
Giving to Others Is the True Path to Happiness
It has become an axiom of modern civilization that happiness is crucial. Thomas Jefferson began the Declaration of Independence by asserting that everyone has certain “unalienable...
Ki Tavo and Our Covenant With God
You have affirmed [he-emarta] this day that the Lord is your God, that you will walk in His ways, that you will observe His laws and...
Ki Tavo: Jewish Identity and the Message of the First Fruits
Jews and Judaism represent a peculiar phenomenon that is found nowhere else in the world: Jews are a nation and Judaism is a religion, yet these two...
We Are What We Remember
One reason that religion has survived in the modern world -- despite four centuries of secularization -- is that it answers the three questions every...
Judaism Is Defined by Joy
Happiness, said Aristotle, is the ultimate goal at which all humans aim. But in Judaism it is not necessarily so. Happiness is a high value. Ashrei, the...
