The Mishkan was an ambitious project designed to craft a house of Hashem on Earth. The Mishkan hosted daily Korbanos, was the scene of national assembly, and was the epicenter for the devar Hashem and divine communication. It also voiced a testimony. The Torah designates the Mishkan as a Mishkan Ha’Eidut, or a house of […]
Clothing is an important form of self-expression. The clothes we wear reflect our personal tastes, preferences, and identity. Likewise, clothing manifests our cultural and communal values. For Jews, clothing has always served as a cultural identifier. Chazal stress that, despite our religious collapse in Egypt, and while living under duress, we still maintained a distinctly […]
Jewish identity delicately balances two opposing attitudes vis-à-vis the non-Jewish world. We are a particularistic race, maintaining attachment to our group interests and asserting our exclusive covenant with Hashem, which awards us His land of Israel. Distinctive dietary and marital customs, along with a rigid system of commandments and prohibitions, preserve our cultural insularity. The […]
When people leave this world, we mourn their passing and grieve their loss. When people die suddenly and tragically, we’re left wondering how they died and in what state of mind. The not knowing is painful. If maybe we knew how they died and what their final thoughts were, perhaps we would be given a […]