In the Clouds

If you're going to bring the ultimate divine wisdom into the world, why are shattered souls the channel for its reception?

A dialogue between Moses and the angels, in which the angels challenged Israel's right to receive the Torah, yields fascinating insights into the nature of spirituality and physicality, the purpose of creation, and the role of the Torah

They entered me like tiny pieces of a puzzle that found the space, or impression, that was carved exactly to fit their dimensions. Then they would snap together, forming sentences and paragraphs and concepts...

It's been said that if you talk to G-d, you're a religious person; if G-d talks to you, you're crazy. I guess that means I'm crazy. G-d talks to me. Not as frequently as He should, but fairly often

On Shavuot we were given the Torah. Does this holiday boil down to bragging rights? Does it really matter who “owns” the title to Torah?

The relationship, from its very inception, has been plagued by a quarrel between the spouses. As is common with many couples, they find themselves continuously and constantly arguing the same argument.

In our nation's 3,300 year history, G‑d has directly addressed us exactly once. In doing so, G‑d also left us a perfect prototype to follow on those occasions when we really want our words to be taken seriously...

Our sages explain that the Divine voice which broadcast the Ten Commandments did not have an echo. Why is the absence of an echo important?

The classic case, Ministering Angels v. Moses, reported in the Talmud, has been public knowledge for millennia. Only recently, however, has the complete story come to light. Here is the entire dialogue as reconstructed from some of the declassified transcripts.

After six weeks of anticipation and preparation for the great day, would everything come to a halt merely because the Jewish people were weary from the journey?

"They saw what is ordinarily heard," remark our sages, "and they heard what is ordinarily seen."

Our Sages tell us that the Torah was studied and observed by our ancestors for hundreds of years before the revelation at Sinai. So why do we celebrate that event as the "Giving of the Torah"? What actually happened at Sinai?

An echo is created when a sound meets with a substance that resists it; instead of absorbing its waves, the substance repels them, bouncing them back to the void

At that moment the angels understood what it means to be human and to have to deal with the challenges that we deal with. It took them a hundred and something years to recover from it...

Commonly perceived as a concession to the weaker gender by the stronger, the rule is actually founded upon a very different rationale

Revolutions may come and go but revelation is eternal

The first two Commandments discuss the belief in One G-d and having no other gods. The Unity of G-d, however, is realized in the material world through the unity of the Jewish people

When Moses ascended to receive the Torah from G-d, the Angels protested: "Leave the Torah here, where it will be properly cherished."

What mattered was not what he intended to do, but what he actually did. He stole the bike...