Torah
In your Shabbat bulletin you will find a list of my 30 favorite verses in the Torah. I started off with a goal of 10, but the list quickly expanded. I am happy to share with you privately what I love about each of the ones I chose. Some of them are…
The book of BaMidbar picks up where Exodus left off. Our Israelite ancestors escaped from slavery in Egypt, successfully passed through the red sea, and received the Torah at Mount Sinai. The story is interrupted by the entire book of Leviticus, describing the responsibilities of the priests as they establish…
This week’s Torah portion, B’Har addresses issues of economic justice and social equality, environmental stewardship – the sabbatical and Jubilee years. All of these are meaningful and important and worthy of a full and rich sermon. And none of them are what I’d like to address right now. Instead- I…
After perhaps too much preparation, we find ourselves in the midst of our Passover celebration. Perhaps the message of “Dayenu” has found its way into our hearts? Instead of spending all of our time shopping and cooking and cleaning, what if, instead, we shifted our perspective on Passover and understand…
Why is this Passover seder different from all other Passover seders? Passover celebrates liberation. It celebrates freedom. It celebrates the exodus from slavery. And yet. . . Over 100 Israeli hostages are not free to celebrate with their families this year. Our joy is diminished as we feel the lack…
I’ve been thinking a lot about the upcoming holiday of Purim, a moment in our calendar characterized by much joy and not a small amount of silliness. Drinking is encouraged, cookies and costumes are an integral part of the celebration, lots of noise and things turned topsy turvy. I’m not…
Check out these coins! Although it is a coin from the State of Israel, the notion of it goes back to this week’s Torah reading. As the parsha, Ki Tissa, begins, God instructs Moses to take a census of the Israelites. Well, really just the men above age 20. Essentially…
Gold and silver and brass. Blue and purple and scarlet. Plus precious stones and fine oil and fabrics and skins. As this week’s Torah portion, Terumah, begins, God presents a long shopping list to Moses. In the chapters that follow, there are pages and pages of construction details. The Israelites…
A commentary on Parshat Vayeitze published in the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, Nov. 24, 2023 In Genesis 27:13-14 God speaks to the patriarch Jacob in a dream, “This land upon which you are lying, I give it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be as the dust…
And so it begins again. This week, Parshat Bereshit, we have the opportunity to open our Torah scroll to the very beginning and take it from the top. The creation of the world. The almost immediate expulsion from paradise. The flood, Abraham and Sarah, enslavement and freedom, wandering, entering the…