“If you do obey these laws.”  — Deuteronomy 7:12This line opens our Torah portion this week. But the translation is not quite sufficient. More accurately, the Torah states, “If you eikev obey these rules.” Eikev, the namesake of our Torah...

“Heart and Soul” is the title of a song composed in 1938 with music by Hoagy Carmichael and lyrics by Frank Loesser. It soon became a jazz and big band standard. The 1961 recording by the Cleftones endures as a rock ‘n’ roll and R&B anthem....

Deuteronomy, the final book of the Pentateuch, is called Devarim in Hebrew. It opens with Eileh ha’Devarim – These are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel on the other side of the Jordan in the 40th year. The book is a review of the incidents...

I was a little proud, and a little embarrassed, too, when I realized they had given me the hard part.  I was 18. It was the summer between high school and college, and I was in Jerusalem studying for a month at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies....

One does not need to look far these days to find someone questioning the qualifications of our leaders. It is a topic of constant discussion and strong feelings on television, social media, and daily conversation with friends and even total strangers....

In Parshat Chukat, we read the well-known story about when the Israelites complain about lack of water. God tells Moses to speak to the rock, and water will come forth. In a moment of anger and frustration, instead of speaking to it as God instructed,...

In Pirkei Avot 5:17 we learn: “Every argument that is for the sake of Heaven is destined to endure, and every argument that is not for Heaven will not endure. Which argument is for the sake of Heaven? The argument between Hillel and Shammai. And which...

Shelach Lecha is the fourth portion in the fourth book of Torah, called Numbers or Bamidbar. God tells Moses, shelach lecha, send for yourself spies to check out what I’ve already told you is a good land. So Moses, at God’s request, deployed 12 sons...

Anyone who has graced the halls of a school knows that the nature of the work within those walls is boundless.  The amount of physical effort, time, and emotional resources that students can invest in learning and that teachers can invest in teaching...

Last week, I took on an intimidating task. I assembled a bookcase. I pulled out the pieces, got out the screwdrivers and hammer, cleared a space and opened the booklet of instructions. I squinted at the incomprehensible diagrams and tried to connect...

It has been said that beginnings are difficult, and that old aphorism holds a great deal of truth. It has also been demonstrated as a law of physics that a body at rest tends to stay at rest, while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. This week,...