This week’s Torah portion describes the bountiful blessings promised to our people by God, if (ekev) we obey the laws of Torah. Together with these blessings, of ...

According to our Parsha, one’s religious behavior also plays a role in determining their Matzav (practical situation). This is made clear in the opening verses of our Sedra (Torah portion) in which ...

When I was a graduate student at USC, I frequented a nearby supermarket with a deli inside to get lunch. Once when I was standing in line, a young man ahead of me, about my age, was dismayed to find ...

“See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the commandments of your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of your God.” ...

The Torah portion of Re’eh marks the start of the third and primary speech of Devarim (Deuteronomy). In his first speech, Moses summarizes events that occurred to the generation that left Egypt. The ...

In this week’s Torah portion, Jacob is grappling with fear at the prospect of returning home to his parents’ house more than 20 years after he left. Last he heard, his father Isaac was dying, his twin ...

This is an adaptation of Looking Forward, a weekly email from our editor-in-chief sent on Friday afternoons. Sign up here to get the Forward’s free newsletters delivered to your inbox. I was thrilled ...

The Torah commanded every Jew to write a Torah scroll for himself. From the time that it was permitted to write the Oral Torah, the commandment is fulfilled through purchasing the books by means of ...