Staying up Shavuot Night– I know that many people stay up the entire night of Shavuot, and my synagogue is arranging a schedule of classes throughout the night. To me it seems a bit crazy attempting to stay awake at so unproductive a time.…More »
Was Shavuot Originally an Agricultural Holiday?– I am somewhat perplexed about the holiday of Shavuot. The Torah describes it as an agricultural holiday, celebrating the harvest. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the giving of the Torah. Did Shavuot become associated with this…More »
Children Punished for Sins of Parents– How do we understand verses such as Exodus 20:5 (in the Ten Commandments) that God punishes not only sinners, but their descendants till four generations? How is it possibly fair to punish children for that which they did not do?More »
Down-to-Earth Spirituality– I am perplexed about a certain juxtaposition in the Torah. Parshas Yisro describes the dramatic revelation of God to the Jewish People at Mount Sinai. And then the next parsha, Mishpatim, lists mundane laws regarding personal injury, property damage, returning…More »
Golden Calf– If the Jews had just witnessed God's awesome power in the 10 Plagues, the splitting of the Red Sea, and the revelation at Mount Sinai, how could these same people turn around and worship a Golden Calf?!More »
King David Descended from Lot’s Daughters– Yesterday I was reading in Genesis the story of Lot’s daughters who bore children from him and begat the nations of Amon and Moab. It then struck me that since King David’s great-grandmother was Ruth the Moabite, it means that…More »
Ruth and Shavuot– I attended synagogue services on the holiday of Shavuot morning, and we spent a half-hour reading the Book of Ruth. Is there any special connection between Ruth and Shavuot?More »
Ruth's Conversion as Moabite?– I have a question about the Book of Ruth. As a Moabite, why was Ruth allowed to convert to Judaism, given the biblical injunction against accepting converts from the Moabite nation?More »
To The Protesters in America Calling for an Intifada
