These 22nd and 23rd sections of our annual cycle of Torah readings (Vayakhei-Pekudei) opens as the Israelites are commanded to observe the Shabbat. Moses continues his acquisition of donations from the people to continue the construction and...

A student’s arrival on a college campus is often accompanied by a great deal of uncertainty. Students must adjust to a new environment, new schedules, and a new sense of freedom and autonomy. In response to these changes, students, even those that go...

If you are a person who values attention to detail in the clothes that you wear, then Parshat Tetzaveh is the portion for you. In this week’s portion, we find an elaborate description of what Aaron, Moses’ brother, is commanded to wear when he...

In parashat Terumah, following the exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, G-d requests that the Israelites now build a sanctuary so that G-d can dwell among them.  Per G-d’s request, Moses asks the people to bring gifts - things...

The last line of parashat Mishpatim reads: “And Moses came into the cloud and went up the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18)." Don’t you want to know what Moses sees up the mountain? In the Zohar, the...

“Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought Moses’ sons and wife to him in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God. He sent word to Moses, ‘I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, with your wife and her two sons.’ Moses...

Why can’t we all just get along? Why can’t everyone else see things the way I see them?” It is so obvious. Or so we think. We remember it as if it happened yesterday: “Then Moses held out his arm over the sea and God drove back the sea...

In the black and white photo, the couple looked comfortable, stylish even. They were Jews who lived in Berlin during the Shoah who betrayed the hiding places of other Jews to the Gestapo. The photo and just the briefest caption is part of an outdoor exhibition...

The heart is a muscle whose sole job it is to circulate blood through the bloodstream, bringing oxygen and nourishment to the cells of the body and then removing carbon dioxide and waste. However, at times, the heart is viewed as the seat of emotions....

There has long been a tension in Judaism and in Jewish communities between particularism and universalism. Proponents of particularism would have Jews form themselves into self-contained communities, isolated from neighboring non-Jewish communities,...

Every year during Hanukkah, we read part of the Joseph story. In parashat Miketz, this week’s parashah, Joseph is let out of jail and finds himself in pharaoh’s palace. He rises to power, is given an Egyptian name, an Egyptian wife, and he becomes...

The Book of Genesis is divided into four major narratives. They are marked by deceit, violence, double-crossing, payback, redemption and reconciliation. This week’s portion, Vayeshev, is read during the month of Kislev, a month of darkness,...