Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf

Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Terumah: How Many Israelites Does it Take to Build an Aron?

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

If we truly want to be involved in Torah study, than we, ipso facto, are involved in Torah study.

Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Vayeira: No Questions Asked

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

Isn't it surprising that Avraham who prayed for Sodom's salvation did not protest God commanding him to kill his own son? For the Netziv, this was actually exactly what God wanted from Avraham. Why?

Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Beshalach: The Sin of Nostalgia

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

The role that God played towards the Jews in the desert was not far removed from that of a parent. While they were on the desert, He provided them with the challenges that would allow them to mature

Redeeming Relevance: All You Need is One Good Man

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

a different leader of the next generation steps up and takes action. That leader was Pinchas...True leaders like Pinchas don’t come out of leadership schools. When the time is ripe, they simply emerge.

Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Chayei Sarah: Avraham’s Canaanite Wife

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

Avraham showed himself to be a mentor for all peoples that God created. If he had previously kept his distance, he would now go to the other extreme of marrying a Canaanite woman, and fathering and raising her children.

Making Pesach with Our Hands

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

Involving our bodies in the holiness of looking for chametz or preparing for Shabbat is something that can become a habit. That is not to say that we shouldn’t use our minds to superimpose even greater meaning on these actions while we perform them. But it does mean that accustoming our bodies to do good things has value unto itself

Fragmentation, G-d, and the Western Jew

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

the Talmud speaks about His presence moving away from the Temple only gradually during its last days. So would it not have made more sense for G-d’s presence to also come down gradually while the Tabernacle was being builtT

Preparing for a Spring Wedding… to God

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

It seems like no coincidence, then, that we read Esther and Ruth at the beginning and end of this period in the year.

Higher Fences and Better Cell Phones

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

Perhaps it is the nature of debate that blinds many from the wisdom of the opposing position, but our sages clearly advocated both approaches simultaneously.

Rosenzweig and Weil are Dead

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

To understand why we don't see people like these anymore, it is worth pointing out that Rosenzweig and especially Weil could be described as “Renaissance men.”

Redeeming Relevance: The Limits of Torah Legacies

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

There is no more meaningful relationship than the relationship of someone who teaches Torah with their students. And yet, no student is the same as their teacher.

The Symbolism of Incompleteness and its Truth

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

The measure of things...

Redeeming Relevance: Praying Responsibly

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

The goal is not to have God do what we want, but rather to do what He wants and thereby sanctify Him in the world. Often, that is accomplished by praying, but sometimes it is better accomplished by not praying – we are to look to halacha to tell us which situation is which

Redeeming Relevance: Parsht Tetzaveh: The Risks God Wants Us to Take

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

So who had it better, Moshe or Aharon?

Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Noach: A Death Penalty for Animals?

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

When Noach gets off the ark, there seems to be a whole new world order that surrounds him.

Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Haazinu: Why Did Yehoshua Repeat Haazinu?

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

“If God only commanded Moshe to present Haazinu, what was the need for Yehoshua to join in?”

Redeeming Relevance: The Mother’s Sin Offering and God’s Need for Darkness

Redeeming Relevance / Rabbi Francis Nataf Rabbi Francis Nataf

The ethics of each new birth represents a microcosm of that debate. We have good reason to hope that the education and upbringing we provide our children will ensure that they bring more good to the world than evil. But there is not a single one of us who can bring up even the best of our children to never do evil. And given that this is the case, giving birth is also an act of responsibility for the evil that one thereby adds to the world.