Posts Tagged: Mishpatim
Why Each Person in a Community Matters
Just over 25 years ago, on January 12, 1995, an extremely controversial wildlife experiment was initiated at Yellowstone National Park. Eight Canadian wolves were released into...
Parshat Mishpatim: We Must Understand in Our Own Way
Two words we read toward the end of our parsha -- na’aseh ve-nishma, “We will do and we will hear” -- are among the most...
Sight and the Beauty of Torah
I have just returned from Israel, where I spent an exhilarating week with my family. During our short visit, we visited many places and met a...
Parshat Mishpatim: The Torah Commands Us to Love the Stranger and the Immigrant
There are Torah commands that leap off the page by their sheer moral power. So it is in the case of the social legislation in...
The Power of Empathy
William Ury, founder of the Harvard Program of Negotiation, tells a marvellous story in one of his books. A young American, living in Japan to study...
God Can Only Push Us So Far — The Rest Is Up to Us
In Yitro, we encountered the Aseret Hadibrot -- the “ten utterances” (or general principles) of Judaism. Now, in Mishpatim, come the details. Here is how they...
Gaming the System: Thoughts on ‘Beingness’
I don’t know if it’s just me, but it’s all-too-often difficult to resist the temptation to do a cost-benefit analysis when asked to do something....
Why We Must Each Reach Out to God in Our Own Way
One of the most famous phrases in the Torah makes its appearance in this week’s parsha. It has often been used to characterize the Jewish...
How to Heal a Heart of Darkness
Jobbik, otherwise known as the Movement for a Better Hungary, is an ultra-nationalist Hungarian political party that has been described as fascist, neo-Nazi, racist, and...
In The Details
On the opening phrase of Mishpatim [Judgements]- "And these are the laws you are to set before them" - Rashi comments: "And these are the...
