Lubavitcher Rebbe; adapted by Jonathan Sacks

The Torah instructs that judges and officers are to be appointed “in all your city gates”—wherever Jews live; but that the “cities of refuge” are to be established only in the land of Israel. Why this distinction between judgement and atonement, between t...

What, exactly, is a "supernatural" event?

In this collection of lucid adaptations of the Rebbe's talks on the weekly Torah readings and Jewish holidays, each question is not only resolved but also revealed to be the starting point of a major spiritual search, a journey to the inner sanctum of Tor...

We know that Jacob, and all the patriarchs, kept the commandments of the Torah that would be later given to their descendants. Why, then, did Jacob marry sisters, a direct prohibition?

An historic controversy arose between the Rabbis and sectarians as to the meaning of the command: "And you shall count unto you from the morrow after the Shabbat." Although the Rabbis proved their case, why did the Torah use a word so open to misinterpret...

A mystical interpretation of the laws of orlah (forbidden fruit of the first three years after a fruit tree's planting), netah revai (the sanctified fruit of the 4th year), and the "mundane" fruit of the fruit tree's 5th year.

Our Parshah begins by mentioning the death of Nadav and Avihu, the sons of Aaron. Their death is something of a mystery, for while they seemed to have been punished for their faults (no less than 14 different "sins" and shortcomings are enumerated by the ...

In his Likkutei Torah Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains that the altar represents the heart. Corresponding to the two altars of the Sanctuary, the outer and the inner, are the outer and inner levels of the heart, its surface personality and its essen...

If G‑d is the source of all blessings, why work to earn a livelihood?