Parshah Columnists

Pure, unadulterated faith defies all reason and remains ironclad even in the face of madness.

Leaving Egypt was not just a physical change in geography.

The cause of the sin was overfamiliarity with G‑d and His service.

Since there are people out there who, tragically, may have lost a leg, this would mean that the “average” person has something like 1.97 legs. But that isn’t quite “normal.” A normal person still has two legs...

It may seem that the revolutionary attempt to break out of limitations without self-destructing is doomed to failure. However, the Rebbe comments, the teaching of our parshah is that it is possible.

If when involved in a holy experience we feel uplifted, but only the soul makes the trip while the body remains behind, we are making the same holy error as the children of Aaron.

Some religious doctrines see marriage as a concession to human weakness. Nothing could be further from Jewish thought . . .

A heightened sense of community responsibility is imperative -- but is that the highest priority?

We first read of Itamar’s role when we are told of sums of gold, silver and other supplies that were used to build and furnish the Mishkan

How does one simultaneously dwell in two contradictory worlds—the world of the spirit and the world of the flesh? Sprinkling every area of life with salt is the solution.

The scapegoat has been a laughingstock, fodder for the scoffers, since time immemorial. Even the Talmud singles out the scapegoat – from amongst all the sacrifices – as a potential source of derision.

Once I was hooked on raw food, the awful restrictions seemed like a privileged progress towards a higher plane of sensitivity and consciousness—precisely the Jewish view of G-d’s restrictions.

On Yom Kippur we embrace. Our harmony is no longer a harmony of "should", but a harmony of "is". All is forgiven. At onement

A love relationship can thus be compared to an electrical circuit: should the resistance fall, the circuit will “short” and burn out.

What a letdown it was for many of us to learn that being clean and sober was not the elixir of love that we sought. Recovery didn't suddenly make us so irresistibly charming and desirable...

The power of ritual is that it does not speak in abstractions – reason versus emotion, instinctual deferral rather than gratification

Why two identical animals whose fate, so different, was decided by the drawing of a lot? And who or what was Azazel?

There is another difference, which explains why Judaism is overwhelmingly a guilt rather than a shame culture.

On one hand, I had suffered so much. On the other hand, I love my family.