Parashat Shoftim contains 41 mitzvot, 14 positive and 27 negative. Among these are some of the most fundamental rules for how a Jewish state is to be governed, who the leaders are, what their ...

Parashah Shoftim (“Judges”), found in Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9, emphasizes the foundational principles of justice and ethical leadership in Jewish law. Moses instructs the Israelites to establish fair ...

How many times have I looked at the sky, noticed the stars, the moon, the sun? How many times have I looked around and seen trees, animals, fish, humans? So many times that I’ve looked at the stars, ...

It’s estimated that we have 50,000 thoughts a day. Is there a strategy and philosophy about the thinking process to adopt? Tnach and Kabbalah address this issue. Kabbalistically, we are told that the ...

Our guest this week is Rabbi Lester Bronstein, leader of the Bet Am Shalom congregation in White Plains, NY. Rabbi Bronstein, who holds a Bachelor's degree from Yale University and a Master's in ...

On the eve of battle, most soldiers are afraid, fearful of death or injury, fearful also that they will run, uncertain that they are prepared to kill. Rabbi Akiva, who is usually the most fanciful of ...

A Hebrew leader must embody the aspirations of his people to the extent that he becomes a microcosm of the entire nation of Israel and his personal identity is absorbed into that of the national ...

The power of the legal system is in many ways the closest humans can come to godliness. It is through the rule of law that humans create order out of chaos, rein in the powerful from abusing the weak, ...

In the weekly Torah portion Shoftim, the Torah gives the option of appointing a king and leader over the Land of Israel, like the other nations: “You shall surely set a king over yourself, whom the ...

The Kohanim and Leviim did not have a share in the Land, it was therefore up to the other tribes to provide for them. In Parshat Shoftim we read about a few of these gifts that are given to the Kohen ...