Parsha Pick-Me-Up

We can ruin easily ruin our prayers, say the Sages. How, why, and how to avoid this problem addressed in brief in the Parsha Pick-Me-Up.

What is the last thing you’d like to eat before you die? What, indeed, do we want to do before we die? How would we spend today, if we knew we were in our final hours?

How do we find joy? Apparently we can find it after we bring the first fruits. A simple secret is once again taught by our tradition.

It is odd that he takes such a strong stand against vows. Is it really so bad to promise our children we will make the play, our spouse that we will take that vacation, our boss that we will make the meeting, and so on?Yes, Rav Dimi says. Take five minutes to listen to the Parsha Pick-Me-Up to learn why.

Why is it so important to respect borders and boundaries?We begin with regular old fences. But there's a lot more there and all of our relationships are impacted by this teaching. This week’s episode is sponsored by Sari and Scott Garfinkle in memory of Zev David ben Shlomo z’lSources: Sifri 188, Midrash Aggadah (Buber) Deut. 19, Lev. 19:10, Mishnah Peah 7:3, MT Gifts to the Po

They both rise on one and the same soil, both are watered by one and the same fall of rain and dew, the same air breathes over both of them… and yet Eval remains in barren bleakness while Gerisim is clad to its summit in embellishment of vegetation.

We return to an old problem with this verse. Could it be that the all knowing God really needs to test the people in order to see whether or not they would keep His commandments? Indeed, Ibn Ezra’s comments here amount to something like “I already wrote about this earlier.”

Given the great number of laws in Judaism, we may be tempted to conclude that doing good in God’s eyes means no more or less than keeping the law. However, we find in our parsha that this is not the case.

Moshe joins a long tradition of deathbed reprovers. It is a list that includes Yaakov, Yehoshua, Shmuel, and David. What is it about this practice that makes it so worthy of imitation by our greatest leaders and teachers?

The Tribes of Gad and Reuven just want a place to live. But Moshe goes right into panic mode. What is he so afraid of? And why should we be so afraid of it as well?