A Baal Teshuvah of Whom You Have Never Heard

It’s the season for repentance, so a few words about a Jew who returned to Judaism.  Sir Waldemar Mordechai Wolff Haffkine (1860 – 1930) worked with Louis Pasteur and was the leading pioneer of vaccinations in India.  In fact, in Mumbai today there still exists the Haffkine Institute for vaccine research.  Late in his life, Haffkine become a deeply religious man.   He returned to the observance of the mitzvos and ...

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Is Fasting an Act of Suffering?

One of the best-known features of Yom Kippur -- sometimes the only thing people know about this day -- is the fact that we are forbidden to eat and drink. What is the meaning and purpose of these prohibitions on Yom Kippur? An anthropologist visiting a synagogue on Yom Kippur might think that since no one is eating or drinking for an entire 24-hour period, the congregants are all suffering terribly. ...

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Is Repentance a Commandment?

“For this mitzvah is not far from you; it is not in heaven that you shall say ‘Who will ascend for us to the heavens...’” (Deuteronomy 30:11) Nachmanides states in his commentary that this verse refers to the positive commandment of repentance. He cites two verses as sources for this mitzvah: Deuteronomy 4:30 “...you shall return to the L-rd your G-d...”, and Deuteronomy 30:1, “And you shall return to your ...

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