Parashat Devarim: Tisha B’Av’s Parshiot by Yaakov Bieler

Jewish tradition associates certain Parashiot with certain times of year. R. Yosef Karo, in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 428:4, lists the various Parashiot of the Tora that are read in association with some of the holidays and commemorations of the Jewish year: Parashat Tzav is always read prior to Pesach during a normal year, and [...]

Parashiot Matot-Masei: High Priests and Accidental Murderers by Yaakov Bieler

Murder as an über-transgression. While murder is obviously the most extreme act of anti-sociability in which one can engage, and it is not surprising that the prohibition against murder is one of the seven Noachide commandments,[1] as well as one of three sins where Jewish tradition demands one should rather give up one’s life than [...]

Parashat Pinchos: So What Did He Really Do? by Yaakov Bieler

Bnot Tzelofchad justifying their claim to their father’s share of the land of Israel. During the course of their presentation to the Jewish leadership to have their father’s assigned portion in the land of Israel turned over to them, the daughters of Tzelofchad discuss their parent’s death and how the particular context in which he [...]

Parashat Balak: Divine Entrapment? by Yaakov Bieler

Divine Entrapment? R. Yaakov Bieler Parashat Balak Bila’am, curse-er for hire. It would appear from Bila’am’s readiness to allow himself to be hired by King Balak of Moav to curse the Jewish people (BaMidbar 22:5-6), that he was hardly a Tzaddik (righteous individual). While he might not have had a particular antipathy towards the Children [...]