Parashat Ha Shavua Commentaries

You Can Be Too Rich.   We are justly proud of the ability of our economy to provide so much comfort and so many fundamentals to our own people and to those around the world.  The power of American enterprise, with its abundance and its energy, is remarkable by any standard.  What used to be affordable only by nobility and the wealthy is now within reach of the average American.  Owning a car is no longer a symbol of opulence, and just about everybody has a television set in their own home.   Read more...

Next to the Jewish day school our children attend is a 7-11. When I pick the kids up from school, I park nearby and walk in to get them. Each Monday after school, I take my kids to the 7-11 for a snack on the way back to the car. There's a homeless man who sits in front of the store, and I routinely give the kids change to give him as we walk by. My daughter, Hannah always runs up and gives him the change with a big smile, and he comments to me on her great personality. After a while, I asked his name, and now as soon as we approach the 7-11, the kids ask for change to give Edward. Read more...

Several weeks ago I settled into the passenger seat of my friend's car and launched into an impassioned monologue about my current moral dilemma... eventually I heard a sniff from the other side and looking over saw she was crying. She has been widowed for a year and a half and had just made another "mistake." It brought home to her (again) the difficulty of making important and less important decisions all by herself. She still wasn't used to it. Read more...

The Rock! - His deeds are perfect, Yea, all His ways are just; A faithful God, never false, True and upright is He. (Deuteronomy 32:4) Read more...

Long before discussions of labor law and corporate ethics emerged as topics for discussion in secular society, the Torah established a model for discussing the concepts of equity and fairness between employees and their employers, introducing employment principles regarding work agreement, fair wages, fair treatment, and the tenor of the overall relationship between employer and employee as topics of public debate. Read more...