Especially in this age of celebrity worship, we raise our own standards of spiritual aspirations by setting up role-models who personify the values we most admire. Tzarror vs. Nekom The very worst of Midyan rises to the fore at the end of ParshatBallak. With the help from Billam they identify the core of Israel's might: It is in its moral fiber. Armed with this insight Midyan attacks the essence of Jewish morality, the exclusive intimacy of its family life and its relationship to God (both highlighted in Billam's exquisiteMah Tovu Ohalecha Yisrael prophecy, now the opening of..

    The Last Lecture Professor Randy Pausch’s untimely death saddened millions of Americans and people around the world. His "Last Lecture" at Carnegie Mellon University in September 2007,[1] "Achieving Your childhood Dreams", inspires young and old alike to live joyously and achieve their dreams. "I should have…" is something we hope never to have to say. Mostly when we think of the phrase "I should have," we think of something we regret not having done or said. There is another "I should have", that we ought to avoid: "I should have prayed." If only we knew how m..

Disproportionality and Culpability Through all the media clutter surrounding the sad and worrying events in Eretz Yisrael, there are two key moral-legal themes. The first is the issue of proportionality in International Law. International law allows sovereign states to protect and defend themselves against attack. It is internationally acknowledged that Hezbollah initiated hostilities and that Israel has the right to respond with force. The question is whether or not the Israeli response is disproportionate to the provocation. The second theme is around culpability: In what way are the..