“And Abraham came to mourn Sarah and to weep for her …” (Genesis 23:2). This week’s Torah portion opens with this most poignant of images, one played out again and again in all of our lives, as a human being mourns the death of a beloved life...
By Rabbi Tracy Nathan
• Published October 28, 2015
In Parashat Vayera, we encounter a disturbing moment in the life of our first matriarch and patriarch: the story of Abraham and Sarah’s casting out of Hagar and Ishmael into the desert with just a bit of bread and water. Rather than hide this shameful...
When I ask my Jewish congregants and friends what matters most to them about their Judaism, the responses frequently boil down to one word: tradition. I am Jewish because it feels familiar, because it’s what my grandparents would have wanted, because...
By Rabbi James Stone Goodman
• Published October 14, 2015
Come on back in, Noah. You had such a good start, a guy with promise. The way the Book refers to you, ish tzaddik (Gen.6:9), such a lofty description. A righteous man. Maybe that’s what held you back, too much opportunity. Maybe you had too much and...
The creation narrative at the beginning of the Torah presents the creative activity of God, punctuated with proclamations of goodness. But on the sixth day of creation, the day on which humanity is created, the Torah tells us that “God saw all that...
By Maharat Rori Picker Neiss
• Published September 30, 2015
The greatest joy often is found in the most uneventful moments. The Torah commands us to be especially joyful on the holiday of Sukkot. In the book of Leviticus, we read, “On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm...
By Rabbi Roxanne J.S. Shapiro
• Published September 9, 2015
You stand this day, all of you, before the Eternal your God … to enter into the covenant of the Eternal your God. … I make this covenant … not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the Eternal our God...
By Rabbi Mark L. Shook
• Published September 2, 2015
26 When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, 2 take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and...
By Rabbi Lane Steinger
• Published August 26, 2015
Laws of warfare presented in last week’s Torah portion are continued this week in Ki Teytzey. This parashah begins with the treatment of a woman captured in war (Deuteronomy 22:10-14), who must not be sold for money or enslaved — very different from...
By Rabbi Deana Sussman
• Published August 12, 2015
What does it mean to really see something? In many ways, the old adage “do mine eyes deceive me?” poses an unanswerable question. Our eyes play tricks on us; our senses may not tell us the entire truth.In Parshat Re’eh, God asks the Israelites to...
When watching the local news or reading the headlines, it can be depressing to learn about all of the suffering and hardship in our community and in the world. Stories about crime, shootings, war and other acts of violence often dominate the top stories....
By Maharat Rori Picker Neiss
• Published July 29, 2015
The emotion is palpable. Moses, the great leader of the Israelite people, has devoted his entire life to the Jewish people and to bringing them closer towards the fulfillment of God’s promise that they be God’s people in the Holy Land. He has...
