The Seven Qualities of Leadership
Jul 29, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Devarim
Leadership is the cornerstone of who we are as Jewish people.
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The Book of Devarim and the Birth of Talmud Torah
Jul 25, 2009 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Devarim
Perhaps the greatest difference between the book of Devarim, which we begin this Shabbat, and the other four books of the Torah is the switch in modality. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers describe a story as it unfolds. The characters of these books experience these events as they occur in the moment. Not so the book of Devarim.
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The Currencies of Justice
Aug 9, 2008 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Devarim
You shall not be partial in judgment: hear out low (katan) and high (gadol) alike. Fear no man, for judgment is God鈥檚. (Deut. 1:17)
Philo, the great first-century Alexandrian Jewish thinker, was engaged in a project that in many ways was deeply modern. He sought to 鈥渢ranslate鈥 Judaism for the Greek-speaking world of his day and demonstrate to a highly educated and urbane population that the Torah was a philosophically serious work. Not only could one be a Jew and be a Greek, but in many ways a pious Jew was the truest of Greeks.
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Who Needs Devarim Anyway?
Jul 28, 2012 By Charlie Schwartz | Commentary | Text Study | Devarim
This week’s midrash seeks to answer the question of why Moses needed to retell the entire Torah in the book of Devarim.
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A Shared Responsibility
Aug 1, 2014 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Devarim
This coming Shabbat, we begin the fifth and final book of Torah as we read Parashat Devarim, the opening of the book of Deuteronomy.
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Taking Two to Tango
Jul 9, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Devarim
This coming Shabbat, we begin the fifth and final book of Torah as we read Parashat Devarim, the opening of the book of Deuteronomy.
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The View From the Other Side
Aug 1, 2014 By Stephen P. Garfinkel | Commentary | Devarim
Is the author of this week鈥檚 Torah reading, Parashat Devarim, or the author of the entire book of Devarim (Deuteronomy, the last of the five books of the Torah), not paying attention?
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A Just and Sustainable Society
Jul 13, 2013 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Devarim | Tishah Be'av
What is your vision of a righteous city? This is an important question, because this week is known as Shabbat Hazon, the Sabbath of Vision, and the vision offered by our prophets is that of a city that has gone astray, abandoning the path of righteousness.
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