"For Instruction shall come forth from Zion, The word of the L-rd from Jerusalem." -- Isaiah 2:3

Jerusalem

Torah Verses

Excerpt Sources

Complete List of Source Books

Navigate the Excerpts Browser

Before accessing the excerpts, please review a word about copyright.

Are you more of an "I'll dive right in and figure it out" person, or a "Show Me How This Thing Works" person?  If the former, go right ahead and try the excerpts browers on the right side of this page and/or scroll through the excerpts that start below the following information -- although we still suggest reading the information first.  If you are the latter, click here for a video demonstrating the Excerpts Browser. Either way (or both), enjoy! 

This page is recommended for searches limited to specific Torah books, weekly portions (parshiot), chapters, verses, and/or sources (authors). For keyword and/or for exact phrase (including verse and source) searches of the entire excerpts database, we recommend using the Search Engine page.  For broadest results, use both pages and alternative search strategies. 

This page displays the full text of all or "sorted" (filtered) excerpts in the database.  Use the "Torah Verses" and/or "Excerpt Sources" browsers at the right to locate the excerpts associated with your desired Torah book, portion, chapter. verse, or author.  Or, simply scroll through the excerpts, using the "boxes" at the bottom of any page displaying excerpts to "jump" ahead or back. 

Also note that immediately below the chapter, verse, and keyword of each excerpt is a highlighted line comprised of multiple links.  Clicking on any of the links will limit (filter) the excerpts display to the selected category.  

Transcription of excerpts is incomplete.  For current status, please see "Transcribed Sources" on the Search Engine page.  To assist with completion, please see "Contributors" page. 

DEUTERONOMY — 33:10 teach

Torah Book & Portion, Book of Deuteronomy, V'Zot HaBerachah (Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12), Source Book Keys, BLOCH
Page(s): 99-100
DEUT1722 "Thou shalt teach Jacob thy ordinances and Israel thy law" [this verse]. Modern society worships success. Education is the key to success in business and the professions. An education which is geared to the promotion of proficiency in one's career must of necessity stress technological and scientific competence. Philosophy and ethics are of little consequence within this framework. Regretfully, technology does not enhance a student's moral stance, and postgraduate degrees do not attest to perfection of character. Fortunately, man's ethical heritage derives from various sources, independent of formal education. Many professionals find an opportunity to project their humane impulses in their chosen field of endeavor. The dedicated social worker, the medical practitioner in the inner city, the lawyer who defends the poor, the teacher who remains after school hours to tutor students in need of help, and countless others in different fields, find self-fulfillment in acting out their moral perceptions. Judaism has advocated the pursuit of education as a worthy goal in its own right, not for the material gain which it may produce. The rabbinic slogan which reflects this attitude was coined by Rabbi Zadok (1st cent.): "Make not the Torah a crown with which to aggrandize thyself, nor a spade with which to dig" (Avot 4:7). The rabbis and teachers of antiquity were unsalaried people who made their living by hard labor. Despite their lack of economic success, they received the highest degree of respect, admiration, and veneration. Traditional Jewish society equated education with the study of Torah, a compendium of ritual laws, civil laws, and ethical precepts. Experts and laymen alike were required to have a knowledge of this code. It was mandatory for every individual to set aside periods for study. The basic rule of national conduct with regard to education was formulated in the command to Joshua: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein" (Joshua 1:8). The purpose of education, spelled out in this command, is to teach the rules which one must translate into daily conduct.

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

DEUTERONOMY — 33:12 beloved

Torah Book & Portion, Book of Deuteronomy, V'Zot HaBerachah (Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12), Source Book Keys, AMJV
Page(s): 179-80
DEUT1723 The concepts of Joseph and Benjamin are two diametrically opposite systems. Both are children of Rachel, but Joseph always symbolizes the one who provides physical sustenance to the Jews (and to the Egyptians) (Genesis 47:12, 41:57). Joseph argues that the redemption comes about because of the building up of nationhood as well as physical building, and initially through Egypt and Shechem. Benjamin, the only son of Jacob born in Israel and who never bowed to Eisav, is known as "Yedid Adonai--the beloved of the Lord," [this verse] symbolizing pure holiness and spirituality. (See the chapter, "Judaism: A Religion or a Nation" for a fuller discussion of these two philosophies.) Thus, the argument rages then and today about how Jerusalem will be built -- from the material, bricks, and mortar symbolized by Joseph, or spiritually, symbolized by Benjamin and by the Messiah of David when he will build the Holy Temple. (The Davidic Messiah actually has both components, as he fights wars and also builds the Temple.) The builders will argue about how Jerusalem is to be built. Both sides seem to be mutually exclusive. The argument takes place by the angels, arguing about the Jerusalem above, but also by actual Rabbis, arguing about the Jerusalem below. And both Jerusalems have to be built properly for God to return to either city (Midrash, Tehillim 122:4). The final decision is that Jerusalem will be built according to both concepts together, according to all opinions, with any one vision of building alone insufficient. And whoever does not understand that both Messiahs (Joseph and David) are necessary does not understand how to build Jerusalem. Joseph's materialism, nationality, culture, must be the basis, but Benjamin's (ben David's) spirituality must be there as well, in the lead. The light that comes from this combination, Shimsotayich, is the essential vision of the Jewish people that originated at Sinai, that Jews must be both a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6).

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

RSS
First156157158159160161162163164165166167168169170172174175
Back To Top