Lectures (Student and Adult Audiences)

1.      Judging Fairly and Favorably

            Based on the biblical injunction, “with righteousness shall you judge your neighbor” (Vayikra 19:15), this lecture explores the Torah’s mandate to judge our fellow Jews fairly and favorably, even when circumstances seem to direct us otherwise.

2.      Re-experiencing the Exodus Today

            We read at the Seder that “one is obligated to view himself as if he himself is experiencing the exodus from Egypt”. How is such a mandate achievable, some 3,300 years after the original exodus, while living as free men in a democratic society?

3.      Zechus Avos: What Can We Really Expect?

            Regularly during the aseres y’mai teshuva we ask Hashem to save us in the merit of our forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. In what sense can this request be considered fair? If we are truly guilty, how can we expect the merit of our forefathers to spare us of the deserved punishment? This lecture also explores Hashem’s attributes of rachamim (mercy) and din (strict justice), seeing them not as polar opposites, but as cooperative means with which to achieve the most appropriate judgment.