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PARSHA POSTS: DEVARIM

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Jul 17, 2026, 6:49 PM

שבת חזון תשפ״ו: From the Bitter to the Sweet

If I asked you to choose an adjective that describes what Torah is, what would you say? I asked this very question to an eager group of 6th-grade religious school students, and their responses varied greatly. I expected answers...

Jul 17, 2026, 6:15 PM

Parashat Devarim

The Words Before the Crossing There is a moment in Devarim when everything arrests without anything seeming to stop. No fire descends, no sea opens, no cloud moves before the camp. Only a voice. A voice that opens by saying:...

Ben-Tzion Spitz

Jul 17, 2026, 6:09 PM

Home Protection (Devarim)

“Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.” -Charles Dickens Most people have a visceral connection, not necessarily to the physical construct, but rather...

William Hamilton

Jul 17, 2026, 6:06 PM

Emotional Appreciation

Rachel weeps. She cannot be consoled. Actually she refuses to be. The prophet Jeremiah says so about our Matriarch who must watch her children wander into Exile (Jer. 31). A contemporary Rachel also weeps bitterly, refusing to be comforted....

Jul 17, 2026, 5:41 PM

Starting with Words – In Support of IWSTHAB

July 17, 2026 3 Av 5786This shabbat we open the book of words. Words tell our story and help us remember. "Then all of you came to me and said, 'Let us send agents ahead to reconnoiter the land for...

Jul 17, 2026, 2:45 PM

Was it wise to welcome Clavicular to Israel?

Regardless of controversial influencers, we as a society must learn how to disagree civilly, before we burn the storehouses again

Talyah Ginsberg

Jul 17, 2026, 2:02 PM

A divine performance review when nobody gets a bonus

'The Prophet Isaiah,' by Valentin Bouché, 1533. (Wikimedia Commons)

We humans have an extraordinary ability to mistake the presentation of virtue for virtue itself, especially when it comes with refreshments (Devarim)

Jul 17, 2026, 5:55 AM

Tzedek: Justice and Compassion (Devarim, Covenant & Conversation)

As Moses begins his great closing addresses to the next generation, he turns to a subject that dominates the last of the Mosaic books, namely justice: I charged your judges at that time: ‘Hear the disputes among your people and...

Maximillian Hollander

Jul 17, 2026, 5:45 AM

Who Will Judge Our Judges?

Devarim begins with Moshe’s admonishment of the Jewish people for their failures. The way Moshe described the nation’s judges underscores a particular failing of these leaders. And it’s a failure we are still grappling with today. In Shemot, the judicial system...

Jul 17, 2026, 5:44 AM

The Roles of Happiness and Mourning

In my post college years I wanted a life where I could be happy regardless of life's events. I've spent many years researching and thinking about happiness. Let me share something I've worked out. The Maharal, a 16th century Jewish...

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