Adam’s Sin and the Decree of Death- The Torah states that on the day Adam would eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge he would surely die (Genesis 2:17). Yet although he was punished when he sinned, he didn’t die on that day, but lived… More »
Children Punished for Sins of Parents- How do we understand verses such as Exodus 20:5 (in the Ten Commandments) that God punishes not only sinners, but their descendants till four generations? How is it possibly fair to punish children for that which they did not do? More »
Egyptian Children Punished for Parents' Sins?- In the Book of Exodus, God indicates that He will slay all the Egyptian first-borns if Pharaoh will not allow the Israelites to leave. Why should the son suffer for the sins of the father? This contradicts the normal concepts… More »
How Our Forefathers’ Merit Helps Us- I see we often ask in our prayers that God remember the righteousness of our ancestors and as a result treat us mercifully. I'd like to understand how this works. Just because Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were righteous we should… More »
Noah: Fixing Mistakes- If the generation of Noah was so corrupt, then why didn’t God just punish the people outright? Why the whole story of Noah building an ark? More »
Why Things Happen- I've been thinking about the whole idea of "why we are here," and it seems to me that the Darwinian attitude of "everything is by random chance" does not lend itself to a meaningful life. How does Judaism view the… More »
Why Can't God Just Reward Us?- I recently read an Aish article which explained quite cogently why God cannot simply reward man and place him in the World to Come. The basic reasoning is because people would be shamed by receiving something they did not earn.… More »
An Eerie Holocaust Remembrance Day
