Search results for: shoftim

A D'var Torah for Parashat Shoftim By Cantor Sandy Horowitz ('14) “Return to Me”. As I was folding my food-delivery bag I saw those printed words on the bottom. The actual words were “Return Me” (a message for the sake of sustainability) but that’s not what I saw; the mind is a funny thing sometimes. We are in Read More >

By Eleanor Pearlman The first verse of Parashat Shoftim (Deut. 16:18) sets a tone of much of what follows in the parashah: 'Shoftim v'shotrim teiten l'kha b'khol sh`arekha Asheir Adonai Elohekha notein l'kha-lish'vatekha V'shaftu et ha-`am mishpat tzedeq' 'Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your cities- Which HaShem your God, gives you-for your Read More >

Our Lips as Gates of Justice A D'var Torah for Parashat Shoftim by Rabbi Irwin Huberman '10   I’ve often wondered why the Torah devotes so much effort towards commanding the Jewish people to establish judges and officers within its communal structure. Agreed, it is vital that within any just and free society, a legal system Read More >

By Halina Rubinstein The last section of this week's parashah describes the strange ritual of the eglah `arufah, the 'broken heifer.' When a person is found dead in the middle of a field and the killer is not known, the elders of the closest city take a heifer that has yet to be trained to Read More >

This week we are privileged to read a parashah that covers a multitude of disparate subjects, including the laws of royalty and magicians, but is introduced by the subject relating to the parashah’s title: Shoftim – Judges. In the first verse, we are enjoined to appoint justices; and then in the next two verses we, Read More >

Ki ata ba el-ha’aretz, asher Adonai Elohekha notein lekha-lo tilmad la’asot, keto’avot hagoyim haheim, “When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations” (Deut 18:9). In Parashat Shoftim, the land of which Moses speaks is the Promised Land, Read More >

By Rabbi Judith Edelstein Within the last few weeks I, and most likely many of you, have been barraged with email messages asking for donations to the presidential campaign. Initially I read the messages with a skeptical eye, planning to contribute a minimal amount at some future date. However, after viewing notes of alarm in Read More >

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D'var Torah A D'var Torah for Parashat Shoftim By Rabbi Jill Hackell ('13) I’ve been studying a lot lately about trees. Dr. Suzanne Simard has spearheaded research showing that the trees of the forest communicate with each other through an elaborate system of fungi attached to their roots, Read More >

When I officiate at a wedding, I typically encourage the parents to bestow blessings upon their children. In addition to the Priestly Blessing, often the parents read a blessing in English that I provide to them, including the lines: “When you speak with your beloved, may you always know the joy of companionship. When you see each other, may your eyes be filled with wonder at the miracle of your love. When you disagree, may you always think of compromise.” I began to be curious about the etymology of the word “compromise,” noting that it has the word “promise” in it, and I wondered if it originally meant something like “promise together.”  I looked it up and discovered that the original meaning of the word “compromise” is a promise that is made by two disputants, at the same time, that they will abide by the decision of someone else who is acting as the arbiter of their dispute.

By Simon Rosenbach If you are of a certain age, you remember Superman, the television show with George Reeves, Noel Neill, Jack Larson, and, among others, Phillips Tead as the delightful Professor Pepperwinkle . . . but I digress. Of course you remember the end of the introduction: “fighting a never ending battle for truth, Read More >