A Quick Torah Thought

"On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised (Vayikra 12:3)." A question has arisen in modern generations, given the proliferation of secularization in the Western world. It is a phenomenon that may hearken back to the Emanicipation, but whatever the causative factors may be, those who are secular and those who are religious are often forced in both the Jewish and non-Jewish world to find middle ground on issues where they don't necessarily see eye to eye. In Qatar, it may have been: should alcohol be banned at the World Cup? In countries with a predominantly Christian ethos, "Should the judicial (de juro) /legislative arm (de facto) ban abortions?", an issue that pits conservatives and liberals across America, and I would assume other Western countries as well, but perhaps less to the same extent as it does in the U.S. A not so new question in the Jewish world is whether secular family members should compel a religious family to deprive its...

 Few are the passages in the Torah that are more cryptic and enigmatic than that of the death of Nadav and Avihu. Anyone who has stepped foot into a synagogue on Parshat Shemini has likely heard the rabbi quote some of the multifarious reasons given by the sages: they were single, they were drunk, they hadn't spoken to Moses etc. etc. The Medrash has a field day, going so far as to suggest that they were punished for golden calf that Aharon had scultped. Rabbi Sacks has an exceedingly interesting interpretation where he delineates a dichotomy between leaders who have carte blanche to do what they deem effective in the altering, changing political landscape, and priests who have to adhere to the status quo, who have to preserve rite and ritual over ingenuity and dynamism.  I would like to weigh in with a thought of my own. It would seem that Nadav and Avihu, having seen their father, Aharon, incapable of bringing the divine presence on the Mishkan - a heavenly fire came down to...

The paradigm of the "Four Sons," is probably the best known from the Passover Hagaddah. There are many an interpretation about what the proper response is for the wicked son in the view of the Hagaddah; today, though, we would say, "the child who has gone off the derech ." Some say the Hagaddah teaches us we should knock out one of the child's teeth, others, that we best take the fire out of his belly, take away from some of his venom, vitriol. To blunt, or take the edge out of his sharp tongue. Little known, though, are the words of the Midrash that present an alternate rendering of the words of the Hagaddah; they say, in no uncertain words, "As long as a child is still asking questions, you must bring him closer. Any child, whose ember is still kindled, who still posits, wonders, and contemplates can be brought closer by the sheer power of his very own imagination." When a child ceases to ask, to wonder, then he or she has closed the door to the poss...