David Harbater, at The Blogs

Dec 13, 2024, 10:05 AM

Vayishlach: The Bizarre Prohibition against Eating the Thigh Muscle

There is a wide range of dietary laws in the Torah including a list of the permitted and forbidden animals, the prohibition against “boiling a kid in its mother’s milk” from which the Rabbis derive the prohibition against mixing...

Dec 5, 2024, 9:11 PM

Vayetzei: Time Flies When You’re Not Having Fun

Albert Einstein coined the famous expression “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Indeed, for most of us, there are occasions, such as holidays or family vacations, during which time seems to fly by and the fun ends too quickly....

Nov 28, 2024, 7:20 PM

Toldot: The Tension Between Short and Long Term Goals—Then and Now

Most of us have both short-term and long-term goals in life. Whether in finances, work, home, and our personal well-being, there are things we would like to achieve now and other things we would like to achieve down the...

Nov 15, 2024, 11:44 PM

Vayera: Prioritizing Mitzvot bein Adam le-Chaveiro

The Mitzvot in the Torah are typically divided into two categories: Mitzvot bein Adam la-Makom (between human beings and God) and Mitzvot bein Adam le-Chaveiro (between one person and another). The fact that that the first 4 of the...

Nov 1, 2024, 11:23 AM

Noach: What Can We Learn Today from Noah’s Ark?

The State of Israel declared the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei—3 days after the Simchat Torah holiday—as the second official day of mourning for the Hamas assault on Simchat Torah, 2023. As we all vividly recall,...

Oct 23, 2024, 10:28 AM

Bereishit: A Much-Needed Reminder of Goodness

On October 7, Hamas perpetrated evil on a scale and magnitude of which we have not seen or experienced since the dark days of the Holocaust. It is one thing to murder innocent civilians; it is quite another to...

Oct 16, 2024, 12:35 PM

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Sukkot 2024: What are we celebrating?

Simchat Torah 2023 recalled the dark days of the Holocaust. Having the means to defend ourselves makes all the difference

Oct 10, 2024, 6:36 PM

Yom Kippur 2024 and Coping with Vulnerability

There is, perhaps, no other time in the Jewish calendar year that we feel as vulnerable as we do on Yom Kippur. Denied all physical pleasures, we spend the day in synagogue asking God for forgiveness and atonement for...

Sep 26, 2024, 12:01 PM

Nitzavim-Vayeilech—the Hiding of God’s Face and Suffering

The horrific events of October 7 have, once again, triggered the age-old question: why do good people suffer? In my comments below, I do not intend to review the vast literature that has been written on this subject but...

Sep 19, 2024, 4:47 PM

Parashat Ki Tavo—The Last Mitzvot

If someone were to ask us to choose one or two mitzvot with which to conclude the entire list of mitzvot in the Torah, what would they be? Perhaps one would be the mitzvah to believe in the One...

About Me

Rabbi Dr. David Harbater is a published author, Jewish educator and public speaker. His book "In the Beginnings: Discovering the Two Worldviews Hidden within Genesis 1-11" was described by the Jerusalem Post as "a work to be treasured". For more information, to sign up to his newsletter, and to invite him to speak in your community, visit his website: https://davidharbater.com/

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