Rabbi Koppell’s Writings
Tazria-Metzora, Leviticus 12:1-15:33 Mark Twain wrote, “It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart; the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you.” It’s no wonder that 25 percent of the sins that we confess on Yom Kippur…
SELECTED TEXTS ON BUSINESS ETHICS “Do what is right and good in the eyes of God.” Deuteronomy 6:18 Baruch Atah Adonai Elohenu melech ha-olam asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzeevanu la’asok b’divrei Torah. We praise You, Adonai our God, ruling force of the universe, who makes us holy with your mitzvot, giving…
Tonight is our first Shabbas together counting the omer. Since Passover began on a Friday night, each week as we come together for kabbalat Shabbat we will count in multiples of 7, marking this time as we anticipate receiving the Torah on the holiday of Shavuot and preparing ourselves intellectually,…
Did you know that Jewish law prohibits selling a basket of strawberries with the gorgeous ones on the top and the shmushy, moldy ones on the bottom? Well, Mesillat Yesharim doesn’t exactly mention strawberries, but it does say that it is forbidden to conceal the defects of something you are…
Some rabbis choose to wear robes, and there is, of course, a big advantage to that: you never have to worry about what to wear for services. I usually try to wear something nice, something that will honor Shabbat and the congregation. Tonight I wanted to particularly call attention to…
Passover- The Story of the Exodus in Tweets from The Twitter Torah @rabbibjk Ex 1-New king doesn’t remember Joseph. Threatened by Israelites. Decrees kill male kids. Midwives Shifra/Puah disobey his order. Heroic. Ex 2-Moses’ mother hides him. Miriam helps. Adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter. Moses grows, kills man beating Hebrew…
This week’s parsha, Mishpatim, is full of various and sundry laws, thus giving the parsha its name. Mishpatim occurs at an interesting time in our people’s history. We are a free people, having escaped from slavery 15 chapters ago. We are in the desert, at the foot of Mount Sinai.…
I want to share with you one of my favorite Talmudic stories from tractate Baba Metzia. The rabbis are debating whether an oven that had become impure could be purified. This may not seem like a terribly entertaining or amusing discussion- yet- it is God’s gleeful response which calls this…
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart’.” Exodus 10:1 What is good about being hard-hearted? When might it be important? Sometimes you need to stand up to a bully- Grades K-4 When friends are pressuring you to do something you shouldn’t do…
Can you believe it’s 2015? Don’t you just want to stop the train, keep time from moving relentlessly forward, and freeze the moment? I think this is kind of a natural, universal human desire. We long for certainty in an uncertain world, we long for stability in a world of…