Deuteronomy (Devarim)

Originally published on the Rabbis for Human Rights website:   Deut. 29:28 “The hidden things are for the Lord our God, but the revealed things are for us and our children forever, to carry out all the words of this Torah.”   If you sin in secret, God will know. If you have yirat...
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Recent weeks have seen too many acts of hatred by Jews in Israel perpetrated against Palestinians: A Palestinian shepherd from the south Hebron hills was wounded in an attack by Israeli settlers Monday evening (August 27), Palestinian and Israeli military sources said. According to Palestinian medics and witnesses, Ismail Adara, a 65-year-old sheep shepherd...
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 צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִּרְדֹּף לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה וְיָרַשְׁתָּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר-יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ  Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may live, and inherit the land which the Lord your God gives you.   The Hertz commentary on the Torah, written in 1936, praises this verse as one of the highest ideals found in...
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Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse.  …Deuteronomy 11:26 The Ben Ish Chai (chief rabbi in Baghdad during the mid-19th century) says that we should not read this verse as if it is saying God is setting both blessings and curses in front of us today.  What the heck, some...
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When someone in the USA commits a “Federal offense,” and are convicted of the crime, they are sentenced according to a standard set of Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The guidelines, which are available online, are very complicated. Everything is a “points” system, where there are so many points given for the basic offence the person...
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 First published on the Rabbis for Human Rights – North America web site. “And it shall come to pass, if you shall give heed diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command you this day, that the Lord your God will set you...
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