OzTorah

OzTorah Torah insights by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple zt"l, Emeritus Senior Rabbi of the Great Synagogue, Sydney

OzTorah is a website, weekly email and social media service exploring the timeless teachings of Jewish tradition from a contemporary Australian and global perspective. The website includes insights into the parashah (Torah reading), an 'Ask the Rabbi' forum, and articles on a wide variety of Jewish, interfaith and freemasonic issues.

So often in the past year – and in every year – we have tried the easy way. We have looked for a maximum of reward for a...
07/09/2026

So often in the past year – and in every year – we have tried the easy way. We have looked for a maximum of reward for a minimum of effort. Finally of course we have sadly recognised that nothing really worthwhile was ever attained without perseverance and hard work.

Read more: https://oztorah.com/2026/09/the-pain-and-the-gain/

One of its notable sayings is a proverb of three Aramaic words – l’fum tza’ara agra, “According to the effort is the reward” or “According to the pain is the gain” (5:26).

But remember the story of the person without lineage who was at a cocktail party where everyone else had aristocratic fo...
03/09/2026

But remember the story of the person without lineage who was at a cocktail party where everyone else had aristocratic forebears. “Whose descendant are you?” the guest was asked. “Descendant?” came the quick reply: “I’m not a descendant – I’m an ancestor!”

READ MORE: https://oztorah.com/2026/08/write-your-own-torah-vayelech-2/

We are almost at the end of the Torah. Moses’ long period of leadership is closing. The people are receptive to his final message. He commands them, “Now write this song for yourselves and teach it to the Children of Israel” (Deut. 31:9).

𝗧𝗢𝗢 𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘 - 𝗔𝗦𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗕𝗕𝗜Q. I get distracted during the High Holyday services. What can I do about it?A. R...
31/08/2026

𝗧𝗢𝗢 𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘 - 𝗔𝗦𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗕𝗕𝗜

Q. I get distracted during the High Holyday services. What can I do about it?

A. Read the response:

Rabbi Chayyim HaLevi Soloveitchik of Brisk says out in his commentary on Maimonides’ Laws of Prayer, chapter 4, that there are two types of kavvanah.

Jewish thinking regards a desert as an enemy to be overcome, a challenge to be met, a task to be carried out. Success co...
27/08/2026

Jewish thinking regards a desert as an enemy to be overcome, a challenge to be met, a task to be carried out. Success comes when one wrestles against a desert and prevails, turning the desert, as the Bible puts it, into a Garden of Eden.

Read more: https://oztorah.com/2026/08/an-abandoned-desert-ki-tavo/

What a relief it must have been for the Israelites to have heard these words. In the wilderness for 40 years, and only now did they see an end to their wanderings.

𝗔𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗛𝗔𝗠 & 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗔𝗛 - 𝗔𝗦𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗕𝗕𝗜Q. Why was the Torah not given to Abraham?A. Read the response:
24/08/2026

𝗔𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗛𝗔𝗠 & 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗔𝗛 - 𝗔𝗦𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗕𝗕𝗜

Q. Why was the Torah not given to Abraham?

A. Read the response:

The Talmud raises a similar question in relation to Ezra. “Had Moses not preceded him,” we are told, “Ezra would have been worthy of receiving the Torah for Israel” (Sanhedrin 21b).

The ideal is of course to change weapons of war into instruments of peace, to turn warriors into statesmen, to bind up t...
20/08/2026

The ideal is of course to change weapons of war into instruments of peace, to turn warriors into statesmen, to bind up the wounds of the enemy as well as one’s own, to see the other side’s point of view even without endorsing it, to say that everyone has a right to sit quietly under their vine and fig tree with none to make them afraid.

Read more: https://oztorah.com/2026/08/peace-loving-but-not-pacifist-ki-tetzei/

Judaism is peace-loving, but not pacifist. When nothing else works, one has to fight. Unfortunately, war requires the use of force. In the Talmudic phrase, kol d’alim g’var – whoever is more powerful prevails.

𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗧𝗛 𝗗𝗜𝗡 - 𝗔𝗦𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗕𝗕𝗜Q. If I am summoned to the Beth Din, do I have to come?Read the response:
17/08/2026

𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗧𝗛 𝗗𝗜𝗡 - 𝗔𝗦𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗕𝗕𝗜

Q. If I am summoned to the Beth Din, do I have to come?

Read the response:

The Seven Laws of the Sons of Noah insist upon the establishment of a system of justice; otherwise, as the sages put it, people would eat each other alive.

If something goes wrong in society the leading citizens cannot wash their hands of responsibility. Nor is it enough to h...
13/08/2026

If something goes wrong in society the leading citizens cannot wash their hands of responsibility. Nor is it enough to have good policing. No: the government and community leaders must ensure they eradicate the conditions that lead to crime.

Read more: https://oztorah.com/2026/08/battling-crime-shoftim/

If someone is found in a field stabbed to death and no-one knows who killed him, the elders of the nearest city have to wash their hands as a sign of innocence and say, “Our hands have not shed this blood” (Deut. 211-9).

𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗚𝗢𝗗 - 𝗔𝗦𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗕𝗕𝗜Q. How can we really say the words, “Blessed are You”, suggesting that it makes God feel goo...
10/08/2026

𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗚𝗢𝗗 - 𝗔𝗦𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗕𝗕𝗜

Q. How can we really say the words, “Blessed are You”, suggesting that it makes God feel good if we bless Him?

A. Read the response:

A. There are many passages which suggest just that, e.g. the Yom Kippur poem, V’avita tehillah – “You desire praise”.

Physical facts like when we are born and whether we will be tall or short are beyond our control.What is, however, up to...
06/08/2026

Physical facts like when we are born and whether we will be tall or short are beyond our control.

What is, however, up to us is our moral life. God determines whether we will be tall; we decide whether we will be good.

The quantity of our life is up to God: its quality is up to us.

Read more: https://oztorah.com/2026/08/free-choice-reeh/

We do not ask to be born, nor do we generally have control over our death. These are not matters of choice at all. They are imposed upon us.

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