Ben-Tzion Spitz, at The Blogs

Apr 18, 2024, 4:07 PM

Lord of the Doppelganger Flies (Metzora)

If we were faultless we should not be so much annoyed by the defects of those with whom we associate. -Francois Fenelon Ever heard a piece of really juicy gossip? A man cheated on his wife? A businessman caught for...

Apr 10, 2024, 10:47 PM

Psychosomatic (Tazria)

Psychosomatic: adjective: Psychological cause of physical symptoms or disorder. Science has demonstrated that one’s mental state can have a direct and negative effect on one’s physical well-being. Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Prague, the Kli Yakar (1550-1619) on Leviticus 13:2 states...

Apr 4, 2024, 9:24 PM

The Holy Fraud (Shemini)

The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat one's self. All sin is easy after that. -- Pearl Bailey There is a creature that walks amongst us, sometimes it is us, who wear the garments of a saint....

Mar 28, 2024, 5:09 PM

Study vs. Action (Tzav)

Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at very small expense. He whom nature has made weak, and idleness keeps ignorant, may yet support his vanity by the name of a critic. -Samuel Johnson I have...

Mar 20, 2024, 8:22 PM

Harnessing Evil (Vayikra)

I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man's being unable to sit still in a room. -Blaise Pascal In an episode of the original Star Trek television series, there is a transporter mishap, that splits Captain Kirk...

Mar 15, 2024, 7:11 AM

Hazy Clarity (Pekudai)

The man who insists on seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides. --Henri-Frédéric Amiel The modern world is fond of absolutes. People like to be absolutely sure that the course of action they are engaging in is both...

Mar 6, 2024, 9:54 PM

Real Generosity (Vayakhel)

What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one. -Francois De La Rochefoucauld There are at least three types of charity givers; those who are forced...

Feb 28, 2024, 8:39 PM

Fall of the island (Ki Tisah)

No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a...

Feb 21, 2024, 7:50 PM

Clothes make the saint, sometimes (Tetzaveh)

“I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.” - Henry David Thoreau From the mists of antiquity there comes a tale. The tale is of a Persian king who inherited...

Feb 14, 2024, 10:27 PM

Moderate Extremists and The Miraculous Middle (Trumah)

One of the main tasks of theology is to find words that do not divide but unite, that do not create conflict but unity, that do not hurt but heal. -Henri Nouwen My paternal grandparents were born in the same...

About Me

Ben-Tzion Spitz is the former Chief Rabbi of Uruguay. He is the author of six books of Biblical Fiction and hundreds of articles and stories dealing with biblical themes. He is the publisher of Torah.Works, a website dedicated to the exploration of classic Jewish texts, as well as TweetYomi, which publishes daily Torah tweets on Parsha, Mishna, Daf, Rambam, Halacha, Tanya and Emuna. Ben-Tzion is a graduate of Yeshiva University and received his Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University.

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