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."...

The late Rabbi Bernard Lipnick kept a plaque on his desk that read, “No One of us is smarter than All of us.” In this week’s Torah reading we hear about the final stages in the construction of the portable sanctuary known as the Mishkan or the...

Shalom Chaverim! This year, we have something of an anomaly on the Jewish calendar. In most years, the Torah portions of Vayakhel and Pekudei are read in tandem with one another; meaning that we have a double selection chanted in our Synagogues...

Parshat Ki Tissa opens with the admonition, “This is what everyone who is entered in the records shall pay …” (30:13) God’s command was for every male from 20 to 60, rich or poor, to be counted by their half-shekel contribution to the upkeep...