Category Archives: Religious Leaders

Spiritual and Religious Greats of the Jewish People

Jew of the Week: Dvorah

One-Woman Supreme Court

Dvorah (c.1107-1067 BCE) Also known as “Deborah”, she was the fourth Judge and Leader of Israel after Moses. A One-Woman Supreme

A Date Palm. Deborah Would Have Sat Under Something Similar

Court, she would sit under a palm tree all day and judge the toughest legal issues of the day. At the time, Israel was overrun by a Canaanite megalomaniac named Yavin, and his general Sisra. Dvorah inspired a rebellion and led the battle towards a miraculous victory, freeing the Jews from oppression. She subsequently composed a beautiful poem – “the Song of Dvorah” – which we sing to this day (see Judges, chapter 5). A woman of incredible power, she is one of the Seven Prophetesses of Israel, led the nation for 40 years, and according to esoteric sources, could even communicate with beings from another planet! It is fitting that her name is Dvorah, meaning “bee”, whose honey is sweet but whose sting is painful.

Happy Adar and Shabbat Shalom!

 

Words of the Week

Said Rabbi Joshua ben Levi: When a person walks along the way, a troop of angels march before him and announce: “Make way for the image of the Holy One, Blessed Be He.”
– Midrash Rabbah, Devarim 4

Jew of the Week: Aryeh Kaplan

Rabbi from the Bronx

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (1934-1983) Born in the Bronx to a Sephardic-Greek family, Rabbi Kaplan produced over 60 books in his short life and wrote 47 original works in a writing career that lasted only 12 years! He translated the entire Torah, as well as the 45-volume Me’am Loez. Remarkably, he also held a Master’s degree in Physics and once said, “I use my physics background to analyze and systematize data, very much as a physicist would deal with physical reality.” He is credited with playing a dramatic role in the modern Baal-Teshuva movement. It is said that “his mind contained libraries of books waiting to be put into writing. It was the will of God that only so much be revealed and no more.” Tomorrow is his yahrzeit.

Words of the Week

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.

– Sir Winston Churchill

Jew of the Week: Don Isaac Abravanel

Treasurer of Torah, Treasurer of Spain

Don Isaac Abravanel (1437-1508) is perhaps the most famous member of the illustrious Abravanel (or Abarbanel) Sephardic dynasty, which traces its lineage back to King David. He served as Royal Treasurer for both King Afonso V of Portugal, and later, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, helping the new Spanish kingdom rise to greatness. Nonetheless, the Spanish decided to expel all the Jews from their domain in 1492. Incredibly, Ferdinand and Isabella gave Don Isaac an exemption, and begged him to stay in Spain as their treasurer. Don Isaac refused, and chose to go with his people. A man of vast wealth, he offered 600,000 crowns to the Spanish monarchy to rescind the expulsion of the Jews. The offer would have been accepted were it not for Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor (murder of thousands of Jews, who, ironically, had Jewish ancestry himself). Don Isaac was a huge philanthropist, supporting the Jewish community in Spain financially, and guiding them spiritually. He is most famous for writing dozens of treatises on Judaism and the Torah (the first of which he wrote before age 20), including a profound commentary on the Tanakh.

Words of the Week

Character is a person’s only real possession.
– Rabbi Israel Salanter