Author Archives: Harry Zeitlin

The gematria (numerical equivalent of the letters of the word) for V’Etchanan (ואתחנן) is 515, which is also the number of special prayers, actually more kabbalistic meditations, composed by Ramchal, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzatto in his book תקט”ו תפילות (Taktu … Continue reading →

Hillel famously states (in Avot 1:14), אִם אֵין אֲנִי לִי, מִי לִי. וּכְשֶׁאֲנִי לְעַצְמִי, מָה אֲנִי. וְאִם לֹא עַכְשָׁיו, אֵימָתָי, Im Ayn Ani Li, Mi Li, “If I am not for myself, who is for me? U’k’sheAni L’Atzmi, Mi Li, … Continue reading →

I, along with a number of contemporary rabbis (Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo and Rabbi David Bar-Hayim to name just a couple), have remarked and written extensively on the two modes of contemporary Jewish life, Diaspora/survival-oriented and Sovereign-in-Eretz-Yisrael/Redemption modes. The Babylonian Talmud, … Continue reading →

Even an elementary approach to Parshat Balak demonstrates that, in the long run, our enemies are unable to curse us because The Holy One will always turn these curses into blessings, (even if the blessings don’t manifest until much farther … Continue reading →

Parshat Korach is the archetype of Jewish self-destructive behavior. A naked power play, couched in terms of holiness and halacha (the back story is that Korach presented a bogus question about talit and tzitzit to Moshe), Korach tried to leap … Continue reading →

There are so many attempts to define what it means to be a Jew. Is it genetic? Consensual? Opting-in? Participatory-Only? Are you a Jew because you eat bagels and cream cheese, or, as we’re in the midst of Shavuot thoughts, cheesecake? Do … Continue reading →

One of the great tragedies of the modern Jewish State is that the Zionist movement, which birthed it, was (and still largely is) dominated almost exclusively, both mainstream and Revisionist, by committed secularists, most of whom were ignorant of, if … Continue reading →

(Just to clear, these thoughts came to me spontaneously while davening. I doubt if you’ll find any rabbinic sources–I haven’t looked because I’m not proposing the premise to be the case. I’m speaking rhetorically and, to emphasize, I do not … Continue reading →

Anything which we not merely occasionally mention, but repeat daily must be important, twice or thrice daily and it’s absolutely crucial. Pretty much buried in the discussion of the Ketoret, the twice-daily incense offering in the Temple (which we recite (or, as too … Continue reading →

Is Judaism merely just one of many “opiates of the people”, as Karl Marx infamously described religion? Even if we stipulate that it goes beyond merely offering succor to otherwise bleak lives, how far are we willing to go? Does it … Continue reading →