Good Homes Are Unnatural
Anyone who wants to sow their wild oats will tell you that “Monogamy isn’t natural.” They are right. Our natural selves animalistically live in the moment, and if we are “true to ourselves,” we really ought to pursue every passing opportunity for pleasure. Or, frankly, to indulge our anger, or desire for revenge, or any…
Symbolic Time Travel – Updated
[Last post was 2023… this is a bit of an update] How many times have you wished you could go back and “do over” something you did or said? I know that such regrets filled my childhood. And the fact that it was impossible to “do over” or even undo something once it had been…
Are (at least some of) the Commandments Essentially Meaningless?
Korach says “everyone is holy.” (N. 16:3) Why does he think that? Because for Korach, the people are already holy. For him, holiness is a state of being, which the Jews already achieved because G-d delivered us from Egypt, and took care of us in the wilderness. If Korach is right, then the commandments cannot…
The Mental Security Blanket of Fatalism
The big bad world is scary. So people seek mental refuge, something to reduce the uncertainty. If we were blessed enough to have a stable family, then we learned this at a young age: it’ll all be OK if we listen to our parents, and surrender to their will. I think religion can be like…
Are there Different Kinds of Anger?
In the Torah, anger is the Hebrew word harah. But in many verses, the word is paired with ahff – connecting to the nostrils. What do nostrils have to do with anger? The Torah tells us: G-d formed a Human from the soil’s humus, blowing into his nostrils the breath of life: the Human became…
The Perils of Keeping Score
Most of our relationships (especially the impersonal ones) are transactional in nature. If you buy a candy bar or an airline ticket, goods and services are quantified and exchanged. We can, by the same token, hire a cleaner or a plumber – both are “clean” transactions. But those very same services, if provided within a…
Was Moshe Tempted To Retire?
When Korach first challenges Moshe, Moshe is unable to respond – he falls on his face. Why? Is it possible that Moshe cannot believe that anyone would want his job?! Moshe’s work was incredibly difficult. He had to constantly interact with Almighty G-d. And at the very same time, Moshe was supposed to lead and…
Free Speech In The Torah?
People are suggesting that Elon Musk, trillionaire, should do something positive for humanity. Everything else notwithstanding, I suggest that Musk has already done so: he bought Twitter/X, and made it the biggest market for free speech mankind has ever known. I think that history might well show that free speech becomes as important a legacy…
Yearning for the Bad Old Days
The Torah tells of a man who was collecting wood on Shabbos. Once, when the Israelites were in the wilderness, a fellow was found gathering wood on the sabbath day. Those who found him as he was gathering wood brought him before Moses, Aaron, and the whole community. (N. 15:32-33) G-d sentences this man to…
Flight of Fancy? The Metaphor of Wings
Flight has often captured our imagination. There is something about breaking free from the earth, soaring through the sky like a bird, and seeing the world from a more elevated perspective. The dominant metaphor for flight has always been wings, enabling birds to leave the ground and fly, to even seemingly hang in the air,…
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