“These are the names of the Children of Israel …” With these words, the book of Exodus begins. And with the recitation of the names, we encounter a new chapter in the life of our people and our history. We move beyond the family drama of the book...
By Rabbi Mark L. Shook
• Published December 31, 2014
A very wise person once said: “The definition of a dysfunctional family was any family that had more than one member in it.” Our Patriarch, Jacob/Israel, presided over a very dysfunctional family. Just how dysfunctional his family was is laid out...
Hanukkah is behind us, yet we are still entrenched in the winter holiday season and everything it brings. For some of us, that means parties, celebrations and happy homecomings. Yet for just as many of us, and for mirrored reasons, this is one of...
By Rabbi Brad Horwitz
• Published December 10, 2014
Parashat Vayeshev recounts the story of Joseph and his brothers. Jacob loved Joseph and favored him over all his other sons. He made him a special ornamental coat, symbolic of this favoritism. Joseph’s brothers became jealous and hateful of Joseph....
When was the last time you really stared into another person＊s eyes? If you can remember that moment, what were you thinking? And did you say what you were thinking? Staring into someone＊s eyes is among the more intimate ways humans can interact. ...
By Rabbi Josef A. Davidson
• Published November 19, 2014
In psychological lingo there is a term for an inner conflict between two opposing ideas, desires or needs. When one experiences this conflict, it is called consonant dissonance. It is characterized by a figure in the middle of two poles, first moving...
By Rabbi Micah Buck-Yael
• Published November 12, 2014
This week, as we look in to the Torah, we find a reading that takes us through numerous losses. The parashah opens with the death of Sarah, our first mother, and it closes with the deaths of Abraham and Ishmael, our first father and our first brother....
By Rabbi Lane Steinger
• Published November 5, 2014
Va-yeyra, our Torah Portion this week, is packed full of fascinating episodes. It contains the narrative of the extraordinary visit to Abraham and Sarah and announcement that the aged Matriarch will give birth “when life is due.” The parashah continues...
By Rabbi James M. Bennett
• Published October 15, 2014
Beginning Hebrew students in Israel experience many humorous moments encountering the Hebrew language. One of my favorites is a story a classmate told of picking grapefruit on a kibbutz. My friend was surrounded by fallen grapefruit in disarray and...
In college, I was part of a martial arts collective in which we began and ended our practice in a circle. Rather than sit in a line in belt order, we sat in a circle with the most advanced next to the least advanced, black belt adjacent to white belt....
By Rabbi Ari Shachar
• Published September 24, 2014
The “Days of Awe,” between Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, constitute a liminal space – an “in-between” place where the possibility of transformation lies. The Sabbath that falls during these 10...
By Rabbi Josef Davidson
• Published September 17, 2014
Nitzavim/Veyelech is a very special Torah portion for me, as Shabbat Nitzavim was the day on which I was called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah. In many ways, it was one of the greatest spiritual experiences of my life, and my becoming a rabbi may be, in...
