by Mordi Levi | f 3, 2021 | Psalms, Responsibility, Sukkot
The date is one of the seven special species of the Land of Israel (Deuteronomy 8:8). Like each of the other species, the date, which grows from a palm tree, is also symbolic of the People of Israel. The Sages teach that the palm tree is unique, in that every part of...
by Mordi Levi | f 26, 2021 | Israel, Responsibility, Samuel
When Samuel charges King Saul with the task of exacting punishment on the Amalekites for attacking the Children of Israel on their way up from Egypt, He tells Saul to wipe out the entire nation: men, women, and children. He is to spare no one and must even kill all of...
by Mordi Levi | f 6, 2021 | Community, Covenant, Hebrew Language, Israel, Light Unto the Nations, Nitzavim, Responsibility
As the People of Israel stand at the plains of Moab, ready to enter the Promised Land, Moses leads them in reaffirming their covenant with God for all generations. The first time the Children of Israel entered a covenant with God was shortly after the Exodus at Mount...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 8, 2017 | Fear of God, Kindness and Compassion, Leadership, Responsibility, Tetzaveh
Late on a cold winter night in January, 1948, thirty-five Palmach soldiers headed out surreptitiously carrying military and medical supplies on their backs to the besieged community of Gush Etzion which was cut off from the rest of the Yishuv. Dawn broke before they...
by Rabbi Tuly Weisz | f 28, 2016 | Chanukah, Light Unto the Nations, Mikeitz, Responsibility, Zechariah
In 1949, the Provisional Council of Israel, the temporary cabinet that governed the Jewish state until the formation of its first government, selected an official emblem for the fledgling Jewish state to display its sovereignty in the community of nations. Graphic...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 19, 2016 | Devarim, Israel, Joshua, Maps, Masei, Responsibility
A city of refuge in the Torah is a place where someone who murdered unintentionally can seek asylum. God commanded the Israelites to set aside six Levitical cities in the Land of Israel to be cities of refuge. Three of those cities were to be on the west side of the...
