Rabbi Levin's Blog

“You must appoint judges and sheriffs for yourselves in all your cities...” (Devarim 16:18).  These are the opening words of this week’s Parsha, Shoftim.  The simple meaning of course is that in the land of Israel, courts should be set up in every city, with officers or “sheriffs” to enforce the laws and the courts’ rulings. But “cities” is a loose translation of the text.   The actual Hebrew word the Torah uses for “cities” is “She’arecha” which means “your gates.”  Also it is written in the singular, not plural: “Titen lecha,” (not titnu lachem) appoint (or place) for you - singular, in all your - singular - gates.  (The plural of gates would be Sha’areichem”)  So the verse can be read as: Set up for yourself judges and officers at all your personal gates. In an address to children in 1985, the Rebbe commented on the verse and this interpretation.  It is possible that a person might think that if we can get away with doing the wrong thing and n...

We are about to usher in the month of Elul this weekend.  On Shabbat we will say the “Bircat Hachodesh” - blessing the new month.  Immediately after Shabbat we go into the first day of Rosh Chodesh.  While technically the last day of the previous month, it is referred to as “Rosh Chodesh Elul,” and we begin to say the additional Elul prayer, Psalm 27, twice a day. (The first day of Rosh Chodesh is kind of a transition between the previous month and the next.)  Then on Monday, the second day of Rosh Chodesh, is the actual beginning of the month, and we start blowing the Shofar every morning after services. The month of Elul is a remarkable opportunity.  I’m going to use an analogy that many people can relate to during these summer days.  Imagine you are going on vacation for a few days to an exotic location that you have never seen before.  You can just go there and try to figure out  where to go and what to do when you get there.  Chances are...

Moshe is sharing his parting words with the Jewish people, as he is about to pass the leadership over to Yehoshua. Before he passes away, he reminds the people about who they are, why Hashem chose them to be freed and receive the Torah, and their mission in the Land of Israel and the world.  As  he is reminded them of Hashem’s kindnesses to them, he makes a very strange statement (Devarim 8:14-16): “... your G-d, who took you out of Egypt, out of the house of slaves; who led you through the great and awesome desert, notorious for its snakes, vipers, scorpions, and thirst induced from lack of water; who brought forth water for you out of flint-stone; who fed you in the desert with manna, which your forefathers did not know, in order to afflict you and in order to test you, for your ultimate benefit.” How is feeding them manna in the desert afflicting them?  Imagine someone is really hungry and you give them some food and say: I’m giving you this sandwich in order to afflic...

I was approached by an author to give him my “elevator pitch” to prove there is a G-d.  An elevator pitch is a short 30 second hard-hitting sales pitch you could give an executive that you happen to meet in an elevator.  I told him that I can’t prove to you that there is a G-d, but you can prove it to yourself.  Faith in G-d is a choice we make.  We can have incontrovertible evidence and still deny it, because Hashem Himself created us with free choice and a voice inside us that questions. I recently heard a story about two people arguing about what a creature on top of the roof was, a bird or a cat.  As they were getting into a heated argument, a passerby suggested a simple way to settle the question.  He suggested they throw a stone onto the roof and see what happens.  If the creature runs away, it’s a cat, and if it flies away it is a bird.  What a brilliant idea!  So they threw a stone onto the roof, and the thing flew away.  “See,...

“Zion shall be redeemed through justice and her penitent through Tzedakah (translated as  righteousness or charity).” (Isaiah 1:27.)  These are the closing words of the Haftorah that we read this week, on “Shabbat Chazon.”  This is the name given to the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av, the day of the destruction of both Holy Temples.  It is named Shabbat Chazon  referring to the first word of the Haftorah, “Chazon Yeshayahu,” Isaiah’s prophetic vision of the destruction of the Holy Temple.   The verse can be translated on a basic level.  The prophet is saying that after the destruction and the terrible tragedy and suffering of the exile, eventually (v. 24, 26) “I will avenge Myself of My foes... And I will restore your judges as at first and your counselors as in the beginning; afterwards you shall be called City of Righteousness, Faithful City.”  Then Isaiah adds that Zion, referring to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and its penitents (or another t...

The Jewish people traveled through the desert from Egypt to Israel over a period of 40 years.  They stopped in 42 places, and the Torah enumerates them in the second of this week’s double Parsha, Masei.  The reading of that section is basically a long list of names.  They journeyed from this place and camped in that place.  And they journeyed from that place and camped in another place.  Since it is customary not to make a break in the reading in the model of the list, the same words, Vayisu (and they journeyed) and Vayachanu (and they camped) are repeated again and again many times in one Parsha.  Many readers have a tendency to speed up for this section, because of fears of monotony. Someone wrote to me that she has a hard time just reading names and more names and finding meaning in it.  I reminded her that every word of the Torah has deep mystical meanings, and that every word is the wisdom of Hashem.  With that attitude the reading takes on a...

  Is it good to be a zealot?  From a superficial reading of the story of Pinchas it would seem so.  Let’s recap the story that we read at the end of the Parsha last week.  Many of the Jewish men had succumbed to Bilaam’s vicious and disgusting plot.  “Their G-d hates promiscuity,” Bilaam told Balak.  So, he said, have your women seduce them, and that will bring them the destruction that I could not accomplish by cursing them. The plot succeeded, and many Jewish men, primarily from the tribe of Shimon, went with the Moabite and Midianite women, leading them also to worship the Baal.  A plague started and many died. When the prince of the tribe of Shimon, Zimri, brazenly and publicly brought a Midianite woman to his tent, Pinchas went after them with a spear and killed them both.  What was Hashem’s reaction?  “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Pinchas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the kohen has turned My anger away from the children of Isr...