Our parashah this week ends in an odd way, a way that it is odd both for the book of Leviticus, and for Torah more generally. Leviticus is largely a book of laws – laws related to the Tabernacle and the priesthood (hence the English name of the book that invokes the tribe of Levi), laws of incest and sexual prohibitions, laws of ritual impurity, and so on. It contains very few narratives, yet it presents one here. Read more...

I hope that it is no spoiler by now to write here publicly that the first act of the smash musical “Hamilton” does not end where one might expect it to. The song “Yorktown” describes how (at no small cost) the revolutionaries of the American colonies win their war of independence, the British are defeated, the world is “turned upside down.” Why not drop the curtain right there? Read more...

When we got to the resort, a long two-hour drive from the airport, there was nothing remarkable about it. It was like any other resort: comfortable bungalows, but certainly not luxurious, swimming pool, tennis courts, golf course, restaurant, game room. Nothing special. I would say the first odd thing we noticed about the place was at the restaurant when we went for dinner that first night. You understand, we weren't obliged to eat at the resort restaurant. The town was only a ten minute drive away, and it wasn't as though our room fees included dinner. Read more...

When we doused our havdalah candle in wine this past Saturday evening, it had been a very long time since I had so deeply felt the meaning of the words traditional to that ritual moment: "Shavuah tov - a good week." The satirical web-site, The Onion, ran a piece towards the end of last week under the "headline" "Jesus, This Week" - the title meaning to represent the reaction to recent events of the ordinary Americans "interviewed" in the article. Read more...

These are My fixed times, the fixed times of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as sacred occasions. (Leviticus 23:2) I once had a good friend, Perry London, z'l, with whom I would go bike riding at 6:00 in the morning. Perry at the time was a Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern California. He later moved to Harvard and then to the Hebrew University, and he wrote the introductory psychology textbook used by many universities in addition to the scholarly work that earned the rand of Professor. Read more...