What is Jewish time? I am not referring to our supposed casual approach to arriving at appointments or even at synagogue services. Rather, how do our spiritual teachers understand the nature of time? Rabbi Gershon Winkler teaches that “time...

This Shabbat, we will read Parashat Emor from the Book of Leviticus. Like many of the other Parshiot in this section of the Chumash, Emor highlights the special responsibilities and obligations placed upon the Kohanim, the Priestly Class of Ancient Israel. One...

God spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Eternal your God, am holy.” This, to me, is the essence of our heritage. The simple beauty of these two verses declare that...

We begin with sadness in this portion. And so the maqam, the musical figure in our communities of the eastern Mediterranean  associated with this portion, is maqam hijaz. A maqam is a musical figure, a partial scale, a modal form. The word maqam is a...

This week's Torah reading contains additional details about Kashrut, our Sacred Diet. To better understand the significance of the details of Kashrut, we need to go back to the Creation story (as found in the first chapter of Genesis) which depicts God...

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach! We find ourselves this Shabbat celebrating the eighth and final day of the Festival of Pesach, which includes the recitation of the Yizkor, the Memorial Prayers, which are chanted four times annually. And yet,...

Passover is a time that accentuates the importance of oneness and unity.  On seder night, we remember our historic roots and re-experience both the dark days in Egypt and our miraculous redemption from bondage. Jewish people across the globe feel...

The Shabbat before Pesach is known as Shabbat HaGadol, the Great Shabbat. For me, this particular Shabbat HaGadol will be a time to recall and celebrate the all too often overlooked great women mentioned in the Passover story. What these women...

Living in a Western culture as we do, most of us mark time according to the Gregorian calendar, a strictly solar calendar in which the new year begins every Jan. 1, that month being the first month in a 12-month series spanning 365 days. There is a slight...

“Now Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and offered before God alien fire, which had not been enjoined upon them. And fire issued forth from God and consumed them. Thus, they died at the instance...

Turbulent times demand that we take action. Parashat Tzav follows Purim by one day, both of which “demand action.” In the Megillah, Haman reveals his diabolical plan to exterminate the Jews of Persia, and Mordechai instructs Esther to immediately...

With this week's Torah portion the third book of the Torah, Vayikra ("[God] called [to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting]..."), is read. Vayikra is also called Torat Cohanim in Hebrew, which corresponds to the name most commonly known, "Leviticus."...