Parsha SHOFETIM | The Blogs

Open Search form

Apply for a Blog

Sep 4, 2017, 5:33 AM

What is our responsibility for choosing leaders?

“You Shall appoint judges and public officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that Adonai Your God is giving to you, and they shall govern the people with due justice (Mishpat Tzedek) You shall not judge unfairly, you...

William Hamilton

Aug 25, 2017, 11:16 PM

Instead of right or left, straight ahead

“Can I help you on, sir?” a young man asked an elderly gentleman who was nervous about stepping onto a descending escalator at a mall in Holyoke, Massachusetts. He had a scary experience once before so he was pleased to...

Aug 25, 2017, 7:31 AM

The moral imperative of the rabbinic ‘conscientious objector’ [Parshat Shoftim]

In an era when strict interpretations of Jewish law are in vogue, and when Orthodox rabbis who render decisions with a broader perspective face withering personal and professional attacks, we would do well to revisit the concepts of freedom...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Aug 24, 2017, 9:47 PM

Judaism & the environment

In Parshat Shoftim (Dvarim 20:19-20), we read: If you besiege a city many days to wage war against it to capture it, do not harm any of its trees by chopping it with an ax, because you eat from it...

Aug 24, 2017, 3:06 PM

The consent of the governed

The Torah is systematically skeptical about politics, for ideally, God alone would rule, but this is reality (Shofetim)

Micah Streiffer

Aug 24, 2017, 9:40 AM

Strip-searching WoW -- really?!

Women of the Wall head Anat Hoffman (holding Torah scroll) at the Western Wall, July 24, 2017. (Hila Shiloni)

This effort to prevent the Women of the Wall from bringing a Torah to the Kotel subverts the Torah's value of justice

Aug 23, 2017, 8:10 AM

“You Get What You Need” Parashat Shofetim 5777

You can’t always get what you want, But if you try sometimes, well you might find You get what you need. (M. Jagger, K. Richards 1998) It should not be surprising that Parashat Shofetim -- “Judges” -- has much to do with...

Ben-Tzion Spitz

Aug 22, 2017, 5:26 PM

Shoftim: Land and Justice

Reconciliation should be accompanied by justice, otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for peace it shouldn't be peace at any cost but peace based on principle, on justice. -- Maria Corazon Aquino The Torah links the concept...

Mordechai Soskil

Sep 12, 2016, 5:35 AM

I have a declaration. By the power vested in me through keyboard ownership and broadband internet access, I hereby declare Followship to be the new Leadership. (I admit I was sad to see in my Google search that I...

Sep 11, 2016, 8:13 PM

A Mother in Israel, or Washington, or Ramallah…

My late husband Peter Lipton, z"l, a philosopher of science committed to gender equality, used the following hypothetical situation to demonstrate the challenges that faced women who wanted to be treated on a par with men: A father and son...

Load more