Moshe Taragin

In the Moreh Nevuchim (3:45), the Rambam addresses the striking absence of Yerushalayim from the Torah. Though Tanach later overflows with references to the city, the Torah itself never names it explicitly, even when describing visits to it. The Rambam explains that this omission is deliberate. Had the Torah clearly identified the site of the Mikdash and the resting place of the Shechina, it would have drawn the attention and hostility of surrounding nations, who might have seized or desecrated it. The city would have been engulfed in violence.

We were not selected for privilege but to carry God’s presence and moral vision into a broader world.

Har Sinai and Matan Torah stand at the seminal moment of Jewish faith. In a singular moment in history, Hashem spoke directly to three million people. Our faith is not built upon the prophecy of a lone mystic, a private dream, or the vision of a single individual. It rests upon a staggering moment in which an entire nation stood together and heard the revealed voice of Hashem.

On Shavuot, we recenter Torah study as our supreme value, even as we divert some of its precious human resources toward protecting our people and defending our land.

Does Hashem desire that we sever ourselves entirely from the physical world, surviving on as little pleasure and comfort as possible? According to the Rambam, the answer is no. The Torah demands calib

Dreams are perfect. Reality is not. Reality demands sacrifice, perseverance, and the courage to confront uncertainty.

We are all living through a period of profound uncertainty, both globally and within the Jewish world. On a global level, it often feels as if we are living in the calm before a storm.

The story of the spies shows how belief in destiny can falter in fear or slip into reckless overconfidence.

They were determined to reverse the tragedy. The land they had rejected only a day earlier now stood once again at the center of their hopes. Convinced that they could still set things right, they pre

Korah's rebellion shows how mistrust and competing narratives destroy dialogue, as reflected today in Israel’s haredi draft divide.