SHABBAT READING
The Torah Is Sanctioned by God: In the Footsteps of the Abravanel: Rabbi Avi Weiss, The Torah.com, Feb. 9, 2023 — The Book of Deuteronomy poses a unique challenge for those who believe that God authored the Torah: It is presented as an address by Moses! This includes the book’s many laws, which are not introduced with וַיְדַבֵּר ה’ אֶל מֹשֶׁה “And the LORD spoke to Moses,” which is ubiquitous in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. Indeed, this phrase appears only once in Deuteronomy, after Moses has finished speaking, and God tells him to ascend Mount Nebo to die (Deuteronomy 32:48).[1]
MORAL COMPASS?
Gaslighting is Not a Jewish Value: Melanie Phillips, Substack, Aug. 1, 2025 — Who would have thought that hundreds of rabbis would endorse vicious blood libels against the Jews? And worse still, call this a Jewish moral response?
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Hopefully This Will Be the First and Last ‘Real’ Tisha B’Av After October 7 – Opinion: Jonathan Lieberman, Jerusalem Post, August 16, 2024
Any Tears for Tisha B’av? Reflections on a Day of Mourning—and Hope: Mark Raven, Commentary, August 1951
Jerusalem Is Not Destroyed: Atar Hadari, Mosaic, July 31, 2014
The Book of Job on Tisha B’Av: Eli Herb, Times of Israel, July 29, 2022
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FOR FURTHER REFERENCE
WATCH: J.J. Schacter on the Jewish Meaning of Memory: Tikvah, July 18, 2025 — We are now in a period in the liturgical calendar of the Jewish people known as the Three Weeks, which begins on the seventeenth day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, and continues through the ninth day of the month of Av.
For These Do I Weep: For Walls Breached Again: Daniel Gordis, Israel from the Inside, July 31, 2025 — Twenty-nine years ago this summer, I was in Jerusalem for a professional conference. The meeting happened to coincide with the Nine Days, the mourning period (which we observe this week) between the first day of the month of Av and the commemoration of the Fast Day of the Ninth of Av. So, not long after we arrived, people began chatting about where they planned to go for Tisha B’Av and the reading of Eichah (Lamentations).
Permission to Grieve: The Mourning of Tisha B’Av: Rabbi Dr. Benji Levy, eJP, July 26, 2023 — It can be awkward. Intimidating. And incredibly difficult to attend a shiva house.
A Torah Tribute to a True Hero on Tisha B’Av: Alan Jay Gerber, The Jewish Star, July 19, 2023 — Grenade! Grenade! The very mention of this word can send shudders down the spine of even the most battle hardened.