Study
Green Spaces: A World Not Of Our Making
The Levites' city dwellings remind us of the importance of green, agricultural spaces for encountering God's creation.
Parashat Nitzavim: Summary
Moses describes the Covenant between God and the Israelites, urging the Israelites to uphold the Covenant and honor the Torah so that they may be rewarded with life in the land of Israel.
Parashat Ki Teitzei: Summary
Moses enumerates many laws that relate to topics of family relationships, interpersonal ethics, forbidden mixtures, and sexuality.
Parashat Shoftim: Summary
Moses reviews for the Israelites their system of justice, the rules of kingship, their relationship to idolatrous nations, and the rules of doing battle.
Protecting The Sacredness Of Life
The laws of the Cities of Refuge emphasize the sacredness and infinite value of every human life.
Parashat Pinchas: Summary
God gives Pinchas a covenant of peace; God explains the apportionment of the Land of Israel; the daughters of Tzelophechad petition to inherit their father's portion; Moses appoints Joshua his successor.
Parashat Korach: Summary
Korach and his followers rebel against Moses' and Aaron's leadership and are killed; God instructs Aaron regarding laws of the priesthood.
The Ethics of Jewish War
Few traditional sources discuss the ethics of fighting noncombatants, but some Jewish laws of war do display a moral genesis.
Rabbinic Limitations on War
Deuteronomy 20 permits wars of aggression, but the talmudic rabbis made it difficult to declare one.