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Va'etchanan: The Universal Message of Divine Oneness

In this week's Torah portion, Moses delivers a foundational declaration of faith, the Shema:"Hear, O Israel: Hashem our G-d, Hashem is One." (Deuteronomy 6:4)  The Shema demands that we love the Creator with all our heart, soul, and might.  Is there any universal massage from this verse that is relevant to every human being?

We often fall into the trap of viewing creation as a past historical event, something that G-d built, and left to run on its own. The Torah's proclamation of Divine Oneness, as explained in Sha'ar HaYichud VeHa'Emunah, dispels this illusion. Creation is a continuous, dynamic process. The universe does not possess independent existence; rather, Divine energy flows continuously into the world at every single second, sustaining and renewing all matter (Sha'ar HaYichud VeHa'Emunah). The very existence, the next breath, and the beating of the heart are being actively recreated…

Devarim: Torah in Seventy Languages

In this Torah portion, we encounter a defining historical moment: the explanation and translation of the Torah to the entire world. On the eve of entering the Land of Israel, Moses explained the Torah in seventy languages. Furthermore, he commanded the people to inscribe the Torah upon huge stones in seventy languages immediately after crossing the Jordan, once standing at the land of Israel (Sotah 32a). The Sages explain that this was done so that the nations of the world would have access to the Written Torah and would have no excuse to claim that they had never been given the opportunity to study it (Sotah 35b).

Yet there is another event of  translation of the Torah that was regarded negatively. Ptolemy, the king of Hellenistic Egypt, compelled the elders of Israel to translate the Torah into Greek. Concerning that day, the Sages said: "That…

Parashat Matot: The Power of Self Restriction  

Parashat Matot opens with the laws of vows: "If a man vows a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth."   The essential role of a vow is to allow an individual to prohibit themselves from enjoying something otherwise permissible. This raises a question: Why would a person choose to forbid themselves something that the Torah permits and restrict himself with a vow?

When a person is dominated by their evil inclination and lacks the self-control to master their desires, a vow becomes a spiritual shield. By swearing an oath, they forcefully prohibit the very material object to which they are enslaved. In such an unrefined state, not only is the person incapable of elevating that specific spark of creation,…