This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa, includes the infamous tale of golden calf. While Moses is atop Mount Sinai, the Israelites make for themselves an idol to worship, one that they can see and touch, one made by the work of their own hands.This triggers...

In the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Terumah, Moses has just ascended Mount Sinai after the saying of the aseret hadibrot, Ten Commandments, and G-d now commands Moses to tell the Jewish People to collect funds for the building of the Mishkan...

This week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim, literally means “laws,” and contains a large array of interpersonal civil commandments and regulations. Just before this portion, the Torah teaches about the building of an altar to G-d. The altar, which symbolizes...

Parashat Yitro is the ideal reading for a discussion about leadership and delegation. Moses’ father-in-law, Yitro, brings Zipporah and her two sons to Moses in the wilderness. After a reunion that involves sharing the accomplishments made only through...

B’shalach is the fourth of 11 chapters in the Book of Exodus. It describes the Israelites ascent out of Egypt and records the dramatic happenings in the aftermath of the death of Egypt’s first born. B’shalach begins in chaos at the Red Sea and...

Growing up in Denver, one of my favorite places to visit was Cave of the Winds just outside Colorado Springs.Overcoming my claustrophobia, I found the stalactites and stalagmites fascinating, with their beautiful shapes and colors created from dripping...

In 1853, Theodore Parker, an abolitionist and advocate for women’s suffrage and a Unitarian minister, preached these words: “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate...

Shemot, one of the most well-known and beloved passages of Torah, is this week’s Torah portion. Shemot begins the saga of our people that has become a foundational text for generations of people of faith. These words carry a universal message about...

This coming Shabbat in communities the world over, the public reading of the Sefer Bereshit (the Book of Genesis) will be drawn to a close as we chant, study and quest to find existential meaning in the words of Parashat Vayechi — the final few chapters...

I have a tradition every Friday afternoon. It doesn’t matter where I am or where my mother is. I receive my Shabbat blessing. I have been in the car or in the grocery store, answering, “Amen, Shabbat shalom, I love you.”  Receiving this blessing...

Retweeted over the past week have been the words of Rabbi David Wolpe: “The Shamash is the candle that lights the others. Be a Shamash.” Important words for this season as we are reminded of the power of light but more specifically the power of...

Sometimes I feel as if I am missing something in perspective in the radical now, the holy present that occupies my attention. The present is challenging enough to require my full attention, to be here, now. I don’t have the koyech (strength) to be anywhere...