by R. Gidon Rothstein Parshat Ve-Zot Ha-Beracha The Needs of a Judge Moshe Rabbenu addresses the tribes in our parsha, sometimes with a beracha, sometimes with more of a  description. For Dan, 33;22, it seems the latter, calling Dan a gur aryeh, a lion cub, that leaps out of the Bashan. Kli Yakar reads the verse in the context of Ya’akov’s blessing, in Bereshit 29;16, Dan ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein Parshat Ve-Zot HaBerakha: Arukh HaShulchan Invokes Ki Shem Hashem Ekra For our last discussion of a mitzvah connected to that week’s parsha, I am failing you doubly. First, as last week I took a mitzvah She’iltot discussed in Ve-Zot Ha-Brakha, this week, I’m taking material from Ha’azinu. Second, it’s not a specific Biblical mitzvah; instead, I want to look at some of the halakhic applications of a ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein Parshat Ha’Azinu After the Torah records the song of Ha’azinu, 32;44 tells us Moshe came and relayed it to the people, he and Hoshe’a bin nun. Since we know him as Yehoshu’a, ever since 38 years ago, when Moshe changed his name, commentators wonder why the Torah uses his original name. Their answers offer three perspectives of ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein Parshat Ha’azinu We’re in the homestretch of the year, running out of mitzvot in the parsha itself (one reason I will switch tracks next year, start a new project that I’ll describe after Simchat Torah). Usually, She’iltot helps us out, except for Ha’azinu, he doesn’t have anything I could work with. However, for Ve-Zot HaBerakhah, he had the mitzvah to fast on Yom Kippur, a ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein In looking at the rich phrase in last week’s parsha, lo bashamayim hi, it is not in heaven, I came across two comments I have not reviewed here, that seem to me particularly relevant to the Yamim Noraim and our experience of teshuvah, repentance. (Fortunately for me, many commentators think of the verse as actually about teshuvah, although the ideas here come from ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein Special for Rosh HaShanah I am bringing this project to a close after Sukkot of this year, moving on to see how the Arukh HaShulchan presents and blends de-oraita with de-rabbanan, Torah law with rabbinic law, custom, and everything in between. Until then, because Rosh HaShanah is on Shabbat, we have the opportunity to consider an extra mitzvah, one I had not discussed ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein Parshat Nitzavim Just before the end of the parsha, Moshe Rabbenu calls to witness heaven and earth that he has placed before them the paths of life and death, blessing and curse, and urges them to choose life, that they may live, and their descendants. Yalkut Shim’oni to Ha’azinu wondered why he called heaven and earth to witness in particular. The ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein Parshat Nitzavim/VaYelekh Ok, I broke this week. Normally, with a double parsha, I try to find a mitzvah from each. To my chagrin, Nitzavim/Vayelekh is very short (the two together are still in the twentieth percentile of parashiyyot by length). In addition, last year, I covered both mitzvot found in the two. Instead of a mitzvah de-oraita, then, I will investigate the halakhic application of Devarim 30;12, lo ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein Parshat Ki Tavo We live after almost two hundred years of important rabbis and poskim finding ways to accommodate those who have left observance, let alone are not observing for the exact right motives. R. Yehudah’s quote of Rav, Pesachim 50b, that a Jew should observe the Torah without perfect motive, because it will build to better motives, has ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein Our mitzvah might seem ho-hum, because we have not eaten ma’aser sheni in many centuries.  Still, the aspect of aninut sheds light on two realms, mourning and the experience of sanctity. Ma’aser Sheni and Aninut: Getting Our Terms Straight Rambam’s Prohibition 151 starts with the basics, Jews may not eat ma’aser sheni while in aninut. Pause to define terms, the easy then the ...