Ben-Tzion Spitz, at The Blogs

Sep 21, 2023, 11:59 PM

True repentance has a double aspect. It looks upon things past with a weeping eye, and upon the future with a watchful eye. -Robert Smith The biblical poem of Haazinu, the penultimate reading of the Torah, has Moses warning the...

Sep 7, 2023, 8:46 PM

Tripartite Forgiveness (Nitzavim-Vayelech)

God pardons like a mother, who kisses the offense into everlasting forgiveness. -- Henry Ward Beecher In one of Moses’ last speeches to Israel, he declares that “You are standing today, all of you, before your God.” The Bat Ayin...

Aug 31, 2023, 4:23 PM

Remember what Not to Forget (Ki Tavo)

Questioning (AI-generated art by author)

Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press but the sealing up of a nation's heart, the excision of its memory. -Alexandr Solzhenitsyn In...

Aug 23, 2023, 10:06 PM

Loved Son of Hated Wife (Ki Tetze)

Hated Wife Precious Son (AI-generated image by author)

Beautiful light is born of darkness, so the faith that springs from conflict is often the strongest and the best. -R. Turnbull The Torah describes a case of a man married to two women (which was allowed in biblical times)....

Aug 16, 2023, 7:29 PM

House of Words (Shoftim)

Stone Aleph (AI-generated image by author)

A powerful agent is the right word. Whenever we come upon one of those intensely right words... the resulting effect is physical as well as spiritual, and electrically prompt. -Mark Twain The beginning of this week’s Torah reading of Shoftim instructs...

Aug 10, 2023, 9:52 PM

The Curse of Lottery Winnings (Re’eh)

Tranquil Study (AI-generated image by author)

We must do our business faithfully, without trouble or disquiet, recalling our mind to God mildly, and with tranquility, as often as we find it wandering from him. -Brother Lawrence Statistics indicate that over seventy percent of lottery winners become...

Aug 3, 2023, 3:25 PM

Quadratic Iron Wives (Ekev)

Meaning and reality were not hidden somewhere behind things, they were in them, in all of them. -Hermann Hesse The Torah describes that the land of Canaan, the Promised Land that the nation of Israel is about to enter has...

Jul 26, 2023, 9:41 AM

Memory Power (Vaetchanan)

Memory Power (AI-generated image by author)

Memory is the cabinet of the imagination, the treasury of reason, the registry of conscience, and, the council chamber of thought. -- Giambattista Basile Moses, telling the nation of Israel about the primacy of the Torah that was bestowed upon...

Jul 20, 2023, 10:35 PM

Divine Megaphone (Devarim)

Moses Addressing (AI-generated image by author)

The ability to express an idea is well nigh as important as the idea itself. -- Bernard Baruch Moses, since the Exodus from Egypt, through the wandering in the desert for forty years and their final encampment by the eastern...

Jul 14, 2023, 3:23 AM

Levels of Control (Matot-Masai)

Soldier Pyramid (AI-generated image by author)

Nothing is more dangerous than a friend without discretion; even a prudent enemy is preferable. -- Jean de La Fontaine Moses addresses the leaders of the tribes of Israel. He instructs them as to the laws of vows. He instructs...

About Me

Ben-Tzion Spitz is the former Chief Rabbi of Uruguay. He is the author of six books of Biblical Fiction and hundreds of articles and stories dealing with biblical themes. He is the publisher of Torah.Works, a website dedicated to the exploration of classic Jewish texts, as well as TweetYomi, which publishes daily Torah tweets on Parsha, Mishna, Daf, Rambam, Halacha, Tanya and Emuna. Ben-Tzion is a graduate of Yeshiva University and received his Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University.

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