Gavriel Rosen, at The Blogs

Jun 4, 2026, 8:05 PM

The dream of centuries crumbled in an evening: The Jews are poised to enter the Promised Land. This is the moment that generations have waited for. Centuries of suffering in Egypt were always viewed through the prism of promise:...

May 28, 2026, 2:15 PM

A Crisis of Leadership

It is a moment unparalleled in the whole Torah. Moshe, until now the Jewish People’s greatest advocate, reaches his breaking point. He complains that he was given the burden of leading the Jewish People; he says his death would...

May 14, 2026, 1:18 PM

The Flag of Humanity

“If they ask me derisively, what is this flag? … a flag is something symbolic and national and with a flag one leads people anywhere one wants, even to the Promised Land. People live and die for a flag...” These...

May 7, 2026, 10:58 AM

The Trappings of Israel

Almost all great civilizations have a common life cycle. They organize, ascend, mature, overextend and decline. Their rise often comes from a collective narrative or goal. Their descent, from abandoning or not cherishing it. Their rise often comes from...

Apr 30, 2026, 9:35 PM

Infighting

The story comprises fewer than 75 words. Anyone listening to the Torah reading, who has a momentary lapse in concentration would not even know they’ve missed it. The end of this week’s parashah includes one of the shortest and...

Apr 23, 2026, 10:55 PM

Why Be Kind?

One of the most simple, profound and moving of Judaism’s principles is a comment made by R. Akiva regarding a passuk in this week's parasha: ואהבת לרעך כמוך - אמר רבי עקיבא זה כלל גדול בתורה (רש"י, ויקרא יח:יט) You should love...

Apr 16, 2026, 11:46 PM

Where Body and Soul Meet

It is a phenomenon unlike any in the Torah. Tzaraat, often mistranslated as leprosy, has no real translation, just like it has no real analogue or rational explanation. It was, for want of a better word, a “disease” that...

Apr 10, 2026, 12:52 AM

Truth vs. Peace

It was supposed to be a smooth end to a long journey. Since the catastrophic incident of the Golden Calf, the Jewish people had been treading a difficult, angst-ridden path to redemption. Moshe had ascended Mount Sinai for a...

Mar 27, 2026, 12:29 AM

Bread That Has Not Yet Risen

Context matters. When the Torah prohibits something, at all times and in all places, it is fair to say that it has a negative view of it. Conversely, when the Torah bans something only at certain times or in...

Mar 20, 2026, 12:24 AM

The Invitation

Of all the books of the Torah, Sefer Vayikra is the most mysterious and seems the most foreign. Concepts like קרבנות-sacrifices, טהרה-purity, and כהנים-priests are all difficult to comprehend individually, let alone in the context of the twenty-first century....

About Me

Gavriel Rosen is the founder and Rosh Beit Midrash of Midrash Aviv, a community Beit Midrash in the Old North of Tel Aviv founded by Yeshivat Har Etzion in partnership with two local communities - Ichud Shivat Tzion and Ben Yehuda 126 Community. Midrash Aviv serves as a Beit Midrash for the local community and soldiers serving in special units in Tel Aviv. He studied and teaches in Yeshivat Har Etzion and studied in Kings College London, Hebrew University and Bar Ilan University. He received Semicha from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. For Midrash Aviv updates: https://chat.whatsapp.com/IElJ3KLXJpu1bO7sPRSf7z

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