This week's parsha

Unless otherwise noted, "This week's Parsha" comprises articles taken from contributors to the Chabad.org website. We show the original author's name here, so that proper attribution is given. For the sake of brevity, footnotes cited in the original author's writings are omitted from this website. If you need to see the citations, please refer to the original articles on the Chabad.org website.

The Effective Critic

Published: 05 August 2019 | Written by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

The first verse of Devarim, the fifth and culminating book of the Torah, sounds prosaic. “These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan -- in the wilderness, on the plain opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahav.” There is no hint of drama in these words. But the sages of the Talmud found one, and it is life-changing.

What is odd in the verse is the last place-name: Di-zahav. What and where is this place? It hasn’t been mentioned before, nor is it mentioned again anywhere else in Tanakh. But the name is tantalizing. It seems to mean, “Enough gold.” Gold is certainly something we have heard about before. It was the metal of which the calf was made while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Torah from G‑d. This was one of the great sins of the wilderness years. Might the enigmatic mention of a place called “Enough gold” have something to do with it?

Firmness and Movement

Published: 29 July 2019 | Written by Tali Loewenthal

In an ideal world we would always be moving forward, aspiring to ever higher goals. We would never rest, because we would feel that every step opens up new vistas of opportunity. The direction would always be “up.”

In fact, our lives are more complicated than that. There are many downs before the ups, and we often have to spend time and effort consolidating our position. Only when we have built some sort of firm structure as a base are we able to go forward and upwards with a measure of confidence. Nonetheless, even when we are focusing on establishing this firm structure, we are also conscious that our real direction is movement forwards and upwards.

Jewish Pop-Ups

Published: 22 July 2019 | Written by Lazer Gurkow

Have you ever wondered why pop-up ads always offer licentious opportunities, and never Torah or mitzvah opportunities? When was the last time you visited your favorite news site and got a pop-up offering you a chance to give charity? Did you ever check the weather and get a pop-up touting the allure of Torah study? Even better, when is the last time you got so riddled with pop-up ads that you literally couldn’t shut down the incessant invitations to the Western Wall?

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev famously said, “Had G‑d put Himself before us and hidden the allure of the world in a book, He could have expected us to worship with a full heart. But is it our fault that He hid Himself in a book and placed the allure of the world before us?”