Texts on the nature of sukkah/shelter tell us about the Divine nature of protection - bringing comfort, healing and peace. God instructs Jonah that the to gain protection, we must also have faith.
While each person is created in God's image and each is valued as if an entire world, Torah demands that we value community and stay in relationship with each other.
Based on lectures by Rabbi Dr. Ira Bedzow and tomes by Yuval Noah Harari, we are presently challenged to define what is human for the purposes of Jewish law and living in a civilized, ethical society. How Torah defines a human is a starting point only.
God differentiated people, a man from a woman, people from one another, despite the commonalities among us. What differences are purposeful and which are not?
Compare motivations for giving charity - from the Golden Calf to caring for the poor. An exploration of tzedakah as being motivated by a love of God and building a holy community.
What are the guidelines for interpreting Torah and Jewish law for modern times? Are we originalists or can we interpret Torah in accordance with our times? Does an individual have the right to interpret Torah or is that reserved for authorities or majorities?
Mishpatim (the laws) characterizes and labels this parsha but the verses are not mundane. We are given tantalizing looks at an ideal world and assuring guidance for a world in need of repair.
Ishmael, the wild-ass bowman, may have been far more decent than the rabbis described. He sets an example for us of how to behave with family at critical times.
Within Yoma we have the seeds of caring more for the neshama than the halakhah. The later Babylonian rabbis recognized that legal authority must in some cases be limited, its expansive and controlling nature contained, and the law limited to make room for a certain degree of individual
autonomy.