bamidbar

Moshe’s disguised divorce – a response to Ibn Caspi

Last year my friend Rabbi Schneeweiss posted about the mystery of the Moshe’s “Kushite wife”. https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/2020/06/behaalosecha-moshes-mysterious-marriage.html He quoted Ibn Caspi, who harshly rejects Chazal’s interpretation as the exact opposite of Pshat, as bad as if they said black means white or love means hate. (Did Ibn Caspi also think that the blind Rav Sheshet (Sagi…

bamidbar | meditations

Naso meditation – difference in sameness

The Parsha concludes with a detailed description of the tribal leaders’ initiation offering. And after reading them carefully, it turns out that **spoiler alert** they are all identical! Why does the Torah need 11 repetitions of the same details. We face a similar challenge with our service. For example, the “offering” of our daily Tefilla…

Mishneh Torah

The threefold quest of the convert

The Rambam (Issurei Biah 13:4) identifies three things which the convert seeks in joining the Jewish people. 1. To join the covenant 2. To find protection under the wings of the Shechina (divine providence) 3. Accepting the Yoke of Torah These three ideas are the basic features of the Jewish people. The first is Jewish…