In recent decades, the word “meditation” has become so closely associated with Eastern religions and New Age spirituality that many Jews forget we have our own deep and ancient meditative tradition. But authentic hitbodedut and hitbonenut—the Hebrew roots of Jewish meditation—are not about mantras, chakras, or emptying the mind. They…
Few practices in human history have been as sacred, as ancient, and as misunderstood as the covenant of circumcision — brit milah. From the moment that God commanded Abraham, “This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you…
The Torah teaches that God established a covenant not only with Israel, but with all humanity. Long before the giving of Torah at Sinai, Noah was called righteous in his generation, a man who “walked with God.” From that ancient covenant came the seven moral laws given to all mankind…
This week’s Torah portion, Lech Lecha, begins with a command that has echoed through every generation of Israel: “Lech lecha mei’artzecha, u’mimolad’techa, u’mibeit avicha, el ha’aretz asher ar’ekha” —“Go for yourself, from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.”…
A Torah-Based Model for Sacred Order and Peace In every generation, the strength of Israel begins in the home. The bayit (household) is more than a place of dwelling — it is the first sanctuary, the smallest unit of covenant life, and the foundation of the nation. Within its walls…
Bereshit 6:9 – “Noach was a righteous man, blameless in his generations; Noach walked with God.” The story of Noach is both ancient and timeless. On its surface, it speaks of a great flood, divine judgment, and survival. Yet beneath the surface, it tells a deeper story about conscience, faith,…
I am often asked why I speak and write so openly about the subject of plural marriage in the Torah. Why, in an age that worships individualism and mocks ancient virtue, would anyone still concern themselves with a practice so out of step with modern ideals?The answer is not desire,…
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Bereshit 1:1) The Torah opens not with a commandment or a covenant, but with a story — the story of creation. Before Israel was chosen, before Torah was given, before there was a people or a land, there was the…
The presumption that monogamy is the divinely ordained and exclusively moral form of marriage within “Judeo-Christian” civilization has become so ingrained that few pause to ask how such an assumption arose. The Hebrew Scriptures present no divine injunction limiting a man to one wife. The Torah’s emphasis lies upon covenantal…
When people picture the Old West, they usually summon a narrow pantheon: trail hands silhouetted against a red horizon, laconic sheriffs with tin badges, outlaws fading into canyons of dust. What slips the frame is how many other hands helped build that world—and among them were Jews, men and women…