What are we to make of the fact that despite all our pious declarations of misery over our exile and yearning to return to ארץ ישראל, we Diaspora Jews do not generally trouble ourselves to make aliyah? Rav Ya’akov Emden indeed considers the historical Jewish indifference to ארץ ישראל grievously sinful, and the cause of […]
Tag Archives: Rav Ya’akov Emden
The Song of the Warrior-Judge
From this week’s parshah: וַתִּקַּח מִרְיָם הַנְּבִיאָה אֲחוֹת אַהֲרֹן, אֶת-הַתֹּף–בְּיָדָהּ; וַתֵּצֶאןָ כָל-הַנָּשִׁים אַחֲרֶיהָ, בְּתֻפִּים וּבִמְחֹלֹת. וַתַּעַן לָהֶם, מִרְיָם: שִׁירוּ לַיקוָק כִּי-גָאֹה גָּאָה, סוּס וְרֹכְבוֹ רָמָה בַיָּם.1 From the haftarah: וַתָּשַׁר דְּבוֹרָה, וּבָרָק בֶּן-אֲבִינֹעַם, בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא, לֵאמֹר.2 How could Devorah have sung together with Barak, in apparent contravention of the principle of קול באשה ערוה? Rav […]
Of Mentors, Metaphor, Memory and Meno
To L.O. and M., on the former’s birth day. There is a famous Jewish tradition that a baby is taught the entire Torah in utero by an angel; its most authoritative source is this passage from the Talmud Bavli – Nidah: דרש רבי שמלאי למה הולד דומה במעי אמו לפנקס שמקופל ומונח ידיו על שתי […]