Q&A: Good Torah Thoughts, and the Nature of the Commandments
Good Torah Thoughts, and the Nature of the Commandments
Question
Hello Rabbi.
1) Does the Rabbi recommend a book that has Torah thoughts for the weekly Torah portion / Sabbath table, that are sensible and not the nonsense common in our circles? I’d prefer ones with an ethical message and not just Brisk-style pilpul on Rashi about the portion.
How does the Rabbi himself conduct the Sabbath table? A Torah thought? A topic in philosophy for discussion? I simply can’t manage to bring to the Sabbath table any elegant Torah thought that I can stand behind (and want to stand behind). Usually the Torah thoughts are either true but not nice (banal), or nice but not true, and often neither nice nor true.
2) In the trilogy, does the Rabbi explain the nature of the Torah in our generation in a way that would make it more pleasant to observe it? It’s hard to keep the commandments with the rational thought that once they were relevant to advancing the world and today they no longer are, or that we have no idea and all the commandments for us are basically a royal decree.
3) And of course, how could I avoid bothering you a bit: is there already any rough estimate of when you’ll publish the new books?
Answer
- I don’t know of anything that I myself like. We discuss whatever topic comes up, and not necessarily a Torah thought in the conventional sense, and certainly not around the weekly Torah portion.
- Not really. But I didn’t say they were relevant only in the past. Not at all. They are relevant today just as they were then. The fact that people don’t understand them is not something unique to our times.
- No.
Nadav Shnerb’s “At the Corner” is an excellent book.