Parshas Shoftim – His Royal Lowness
“Let them eat cake!” Popularly attributed to Marie Antoinette, this quote has entered our lexicon as an expression of the callousness and obliviousness of the royalty and upper class to …
Rabbi Oratz on the Parsha
Parshas Shoftim – Our Brother’s Keeper
A corpse. A corpse on Union Street, New Orleans. It is seventeen years later, and I still cannot get the vision out of my mind. In the tragic aftermath of …
Parshas Re’eh – Doing What’s Good and What’s Right
“I don’t care what anyone else thinks, I do what I know is right!” Ever come across someone with this attitude? Have any friends or relatives like that? Strong minded. …
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Parshas Re’eh – The Road Not Taken
As someone with a lousy (read: nonexistent) sense of direction, a GPS is one of the best gifts I have ever received. However, even the GPS was no match for …
Parshas Maasei – Coming Home, Leaving Home
Written a number of years ago, yet eternally relevant. I write these words from somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, as I return home to New Jersey from a week-long trip …
Parshas Chukas – Cast Your Bread Upon the Water
“Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it” (Koheles 11:1). In this week’s Torah portion, we find the Jewish people, in their fortieth year …
Parshas Beha’alosecha – Value Judgements
From the sea they didn’t want to leave, from the mountain they couldn’t get away fast enough. The Torah tells us that after the miraculous splitting of the sea, all …
Parshas Behar – Sticks ‘n Stones
Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.” Rarely is a slogan so well known, yet so profoundly untrue. As recent tragic cases of bullying …
Parshas Emor – Don’t Worry, Be Happy
What is the most difficult mitzvah in the Torah? Fasting on Yom Kippur? No Oreos for eight days on Passover? No texting for 25 hours on Shabbos? Surprisingly, some commentaries say that …
Parshas Vayikrah – Of Course Animal Sacrifice Seems Barbaric and Pagan, That’s Why We Pray for Its Return!
Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz recently penned an open “letter to Hashem (G-d)”, asking why we pray for a third Temple that will include animal sacrifice. I will be bold enough to assume …