Elleh ha'dvarim asher debar Moshe el-kol-Yisrael... Devarim, the fifth book of the Torah, reveals to us Moses' final discourse to Israel in the last weeks of his life. Moses petitions Bnai Yisrael to follow in God's ways and thus enjoy the rewards of such action. And Moses warns Bnai Yisrael to not act against God, lest they be dispersed among the nations of the world. Essentially, Moses delivers his living will to his people. Read more...

When I was a congregational Rabbi, I received many calls from people seeking personal counseling to handle problems with their families or friends. Time after time, someone would tell me of their difficulty in relating to someone else, explaining to me how that other person didn't really like them, never understood them, never gave them the benefit of the doubt.   Read more...

"Eicha yashva badad, hair rabati am, haitai k'almana - Lonely sits the city, once great with people. She that was great among the nations has become like a widow". Read more...

Each Shabbat as we read the Haftorah, we can find a connecting theme that links it to that week's Torah portion, illustrating why it was chosen to be read on that particular Shabbat. This Shabbat, in addition to reading to Parashat Devarim, we also read a special Haftarah for which the Shabbat is given a special name, Shabbat Hazon (Shabbat of Vision), named for Isaiah's prophetic vision in foretelling the destruction of the Temple. Read more...

The rabbis had two names for the book of the Torah we begin reading this week. It is, on the one hand, known as D'varim, after one of its opening words, just as other books of the Torah are named. Yet on the other hand, it is also called Mishneh Torah, a "repetition of the Torah" (indeed, the translation of this phrase into Greek, Deuteronomion, gives us the common name by which we know it in English, Deuteronomy). Read more...