With Parashat B’midbar, we begin reading Sefer B’midbar, the Book of Numbers, which recounts the stories of the people of Israel’s time living in the midbar, the desert wilderness. It is to the midbar that the Israelites go upon leaving Egypt, and...

D’var Torah:  Parashat EMORAdonai said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: None shall become ritually impure for any [dead] person among their kin, except for the relatives that are closest to them: their mother, their...

Imagine that a disease breaks out in the community, actually a family of diseases, perhaps, because it presents differently in many cases. No one knows exactly how it is transmitted, and no one knows who patient zero is. Worst of all, no one knows exactly...

“And Aharon’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, each took his offering pan, put fire in it, placed incense upon it, and brought before God a foreign fire, which God had not commanded. And a fire went forth from before God and consumed them both, and they died...

The Book of Leviticus, especially the first few portions, are filled with intricate details of the many types sacrifices God commanded the Israelites to make. In Hebrew, the word for sacrifice is korban, which comes from a Hebrew root, meaning “to draw...

I hear Leviticus speaking. Leviticus and Dante got together in the form of a virus, a nonlocal reminder in the language of Leviticus – purity and impurity — that all of us are in this together. I hear Deuteronomy speaking. We will be judged by the...

We have been reading this richly symbolic section of the Torah on the Mishkan, the mobile sacred dwelling place for the Divine Presence. As we complete the reading of the instructions in Parashat Ki Tissa, it is worth thinking about how we create the...

Is  every mitzvah, every commandment equally important?  In some sense, of course — if we understand God as the source of mitzvot, commandments, then every mitzvah is an equal opportunity to obey or disobey God and God’s will for us.  And plus,...

Just two short weeks ago, in Parashat Yitro, we read of the revelation at Mt. Sinai. Each Israelite – rich and poor, young and old, female and male – experienced the reality of the Presence of God in their lives. Then last week, in Parashat Mishpatim,...

As a child, I used to watch the Tennessee Ernie Ford show on television every week. I loved his deep, resonant, baritone voice, and the songs that he sang were about everyday people and situations. One of my favorite songs of his was “Sixteen Tons.”...

D’VAR TORAH — Parashat YitroAs a Jewish educator, it is not uncommon to think about or to discuss with colleagues what it is specifically that make Jewish education Jewish. Is it the “chosen” content or the identity/ideology of the teacher? Are...

D’VAR TORAH — BeshalachThe Book of Exodus 13:17 begins with two words: “Vay’hi b’shalach” – “And it came to be with the letting go…” (of the People [Israelites] by Pharaoh). Of all the words found in Parashat B’shalach (Exodus 13:17-17:16)...