Megillat Esther: A Love Letter in the Book
March 3, 2021
It is a letter to the generations — a personal call to the one who feels locked in.
Rabbi Asher Brander
Why Are We Jews?
January 5, 2006
Wherein lies the power of the Judah personality? Is this the same Judah who initiates the sale of his brother and whose conduct in the Tamar episode raises troubling questions? Equally remarkable is the haunting silence of Judah\’s siblings. Why is it Judah alone who stands tall in the face of the hostile viceroy who wants to seize Benjamin? Are they not all certain of the consequent early demise of their father Jacob?
Blind Faith
October 20, 2005
Jews often live in calendar dialectics. Annually, we oscillate between two Jewish New Years (Tishrei/Nissan) and two \”Judgment Days\” (Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur). the Dubner Maggid, Rabbi Yaakov Krantz, perhaps the greatest Jewish storyteller of all time, was once asked: Why do we celebrate both Simchat Torah and Shavuot? Why not condense them into one grand holiday?
What Is Greatness?
July 28, 2005
Without question, Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses) is the greatest Torah personality — bar none. No human ever reached his prophetic level. No single person understood God more than he. No mortal ever communicated with God to the same degree of intimacy.
Of Worms and Greatness
April 7, 2005
One often sees the world through the lenses of his or her own leanings. Our powerful intellects can serve to justify and spin most anything. Ultimate truth, goodness and our essential purpose can become casualties of our own bias. But what are we to do, how can we possibly escape our very humanity?
In Praise of Lambs
June 3, 2004
Aaron receives the commandment to light the menorah everyday. The Torah states: \”Aaron did so; he lit the lamps, just as God commanded\” (Numbers, 8:3).
Give and Take
February 26, 2004
Our Torah portion employs an enigmatic turn of phrase that appears quite instructive in this regard. As God commands Moses to solicit the necessary stuff to build the Sanctuary, He demands that the Jews \”take for Me a portion.\”
Why Are We Jews?
January 1, 2004
\”Biblical stories are in our present — in the cheder [Easter European elementary school] we cried when we learned of the sale of Joseph — and we rejoiced in his ascendancy to power. There was a freshness, a vigor, a nearness, which we felt in that drama.\” — Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveichik
The Power of Memory
October 30, 2003
Memory is a multibillion-dollar enterprise these days. I am personally on my fourth PDA and angling for a fifth even sleeker, more efficient model.
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