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The Damage We Cause Without Acting
Making his way through the catalog of Jews’ possible failings, Rabbenu Yonah reaches the halachic concept of a lav she-ein bo ma’aseh, a prohibition which does not involve any action. This...
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Getting Serious: Flogging Sins and Death at the Hands of Heaven
From a human perspective, the next level of seriousness of sin is ordinary prohibitions, which could be punished by lashes. I say “could be” as a way of remembering that a court administers this...
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Incurring the Death Penalty and/or Losing Our Share in the World to Come
This is the last week in which we’ll see Rabbenu Yonah cataloging sins by severity (for the two weeks after this one, we’ll see his understanding of what seems to him to be the worst category, groups...
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Two of the Four Groups Who Do Not Merit Greeting the Divine: Scoffers and Liars
No Hierarchy is Perfect We started this project a few weeks ago (I had said we’d take seven weeks, but I’m going to end up doing it in six—under time and under budget!) by noting that Rabbenu Yonah had...
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Finishing the Third Sha’ar: Flattery and Improper Speech
I noted last week that Rabbenu Yonah gives more weight to a line in Sotah than did others, such as Rambam. Someone asked me whether those who came after agreed with him about how serious these...
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The Biggest Error of All: What Would Idolatry Look Like Today?
I had the great pleasure and privilege of spending Rosh haShanah and Shabbat Shuvah at the East Denver Orthodox Synagogue, which gave me the opportunity to collate some sources on idolatry. My...
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Rain: Natural or Supernatural?
On the first day of Sukkot, we read a selection from Zechariah that projects an attitude towards rain that seems to me often glossed over in contemporary Orthodox conversation. Zechariah 14;17 warns...
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Bereshit and Noach: Free Will and Our Bond with Nature
In conjunction with a new class, I think I am going to spend some time this year on parshanut, the interpretation of the Torah. Most weeks, that will mean comparing how a group of commentators (current...
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Interest From a Borrower to a Lender: Balancing Formal and Reasoned Halachah
I recently had occasion to discuss a crucial detail of the laws of interest, that it is only prohibited if the interest goes from the borrower to the lender. An interesting topic of its own, it also...
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Parshat Lech Lecha: The Meaning and Message of Milah
Hashem emphasizes the importance of circumcision from the start. A covenant between Avraham and Hashem, between Avraham’s descendants and Hashem, the failure to participate in that covenant incurs...
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