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PARSHA POSTS: NITZAVIM

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Moshe-Mordechai van Zuiden

Dec 12, 2025, 10:39 PM

This is how I see Free Will

My reactions to the newest Thoughts to Ponder by Rabbi Cardozo My friend and teacher sent around important words on Volition. My take is different from everyone’s. Read his post to know what I’m reacting to. Only philosophers see a paradox...

Tzvi Gleiberman

Sep 26, 2025, 1:14 PM

He said to them, “Today I am 120 years old. I am no longer allowed to come and go before you, for God said to me, ‘You will not cross this Jordan River.’ If Moshe’s age explains why he can’t...

Sep 25, 2025, 1:20 PM

Look in the Mirror: A Teshuvah Call to the World

In Parshat Vayelech, Moshe speaks his last words. He warns Israel that nations will rise against them, corruption will spread, and betrayal will be constant. Yet he charges them: “Chazak ve’ematz – Be strong and courageous, for God goes...

Jonathan Muskat

Sep 22, 2025, 11:55 PM

The Teshuva of Nitzavim and the Teshuva of Rosh Hashana

My Oceanside community was all very polite to me last Shabbat. On the way home from shul, Yael turned to me and asked if I realized that during my drasha I had kept saying there was a suicide bombing,...

Sep 22, 2025, 11:50 PM

Rosh Hashanah 5786

You are standing here today, all of you, before Hashem your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers – all of Yisroel (Devarim 29:9). Rabbi Baruch Bodenheimer writes that "Klal Yisrael, you are all standing here today...

Daniel Z. Feldman

Sep 21, 2025, 11:30 AM

“Not In Heaven”: The Major Challenge to Artificial Halakhic Decisions

The crucial current question of whether robot may replace rabbis, of Artificial Intelligence taking on the role of deciding Jewish law, is greatly impacted by a verse in this week’s Torah reading. The Talmud makes it clear, in a...

Sep 21, 2025, 11:04 AM

When Standing Together Hurts: Rosh Hashanah, Israel, and Radical Acceptance

We have just finished Shabbat Nitzavim, and Rosh Hashanah is now only hours away. As we prepare to stand before God, the Torah reminds us of something essential: “Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem lifnei Hashem Elokeichem…” “You are standing today, all of...

Sarah Segal-Katz

Sep 20, 2025, 1:21 AM

Sky and Waters Between Us and Hope (Nitzavim)

This Shabbat we read Parashat Nitzavim, where Moses gathers the entire people: “You stand this day all of you”(Deuteronomy 29:9) —from the greatest to the smallest, from the tribal heads to the water-drawers—into one covenant. Rashi notes that this...

Sep 19, 2025, 7:06 PM

On Rosh Hashana, G-d Embraces ‘All of You’

The mystics teach that the opening verse of parshas Nitzavim, which is always read on the last shabbos of the year, alludes to the upcoming holiday of Rosh Hashana. On the simple level, the verse was spoken on the...

Sep 19, 2025, 6:14 PM

שְׁמַע בְּנִי מוּסַר אָבִיךָ וְאַל תִּטּוֹשׁ תּוֹרַת אִמֶּךָ

In 1999, Dr. Irene Pepperberg published a study of the research she had conducted proving that parrots have the actual capacity to speak as opposed to just imitate, as was previously thought. The young scientist purchased a one-year-old parrot,...

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