Torah

“I’m Begging You”- Vaetchanan Rabbi Bonnie Koppell   The name of this week’s Torah portion is “Vaetchanan.”  The word can be translated as- “I begged, I pleaded, I [...]

Anger is One Letter Short of Danger- a perspective on Matot/Masey Rabbi Bonnie Koppell There is a lot of anger in this week’s Torah portion.  Beginning with verbal commitments made by women which [...]

Korach, The National Week of Conversation, Antisemitism, and Us Rabbi Bonnie Koppell   This week’s parsha is named for Korach, who, in my humble opinion is one of the people in the Torah who [...]

Parashat Shemini: Do You Need to Apologize? Be Sure to Listen First JCC Association | April 8, 2021 1 By Rabbi Bonnie Koppell How hard, or easy, is it for you to say, “I was wrong, I apologize, [...]

Beetle Bailey and Ki Tissa Rabbi Bonnie Koppell   Here are a couple of interesting numbers: 14, 981 17, 896 23, 746 Any idea what they represent?  These are the number of days that each of [...]

Alex Trebek and Parshat Bo Rabbi Bonnie Koppell   You may have missed a sad, recent event in the news.  Overshadowed by current events, the death of Alex Trebek, long time host of [...]

September 11, 2020          It’s Sept. 11th.  You just can’t ignore that date.  Or maybe you can?  It’s hard to believe it was 19 years ago, [...]

         According to the Torah, we are just now, with this week’s parsha, entering Bamidbar/the wilderness.  According to us, it feels like 40 years [...]

Tazria, Metzora, and Social Distancing- 2020 Rabbi Bonnie Koppell          An unknown illness erupts.  Waiting for a diagnosis, and then, [...]

Nadav, Avihu, and COVID-19 Rabbi Bonnie Koppell          I trust everyone had a good Pesach and our Torah reading this week, Shemini, finds us exactly half-way through the Torah.  It is AMAZING [...]