Rabbi Brigitte Rosenberg
• Published February 23, 2023
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...
Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content Officer
• Published February 16, 2023
It's a late Friday afternoon in the Central West End and Amanda Harris is preparing for Shabbat.
"Shabbat helps me slow down and reconnect with my loved ones. I also love how the rituals of lighting candles and saying blessings tie me to my cultural...
RABBI JAMES STONE GOODMAN
• Published February 16, 2023
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...
Rabbi Rachel Kay Bearman
• Published February 8, 2023
“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...
Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content Officer
• Published February 1, 2023
This weekend Jews around the world will celebrate Tu B’shvat, the Jewish new year for trees. In the Torah, fruit bearing trees are revered because of their importance in sustaining life. The name is Hebrew for the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shevat.
In...
Rabbi James M. Bennett, Senior Rabbi of Congregation Shaare Emeth
• Published February 1, 2023
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...
From My Jewish Learning, Spe
• Published February 1, 2023
Tu B'shvat or the “birthday” of all fruit trees, is a minor festival. The name is Hebrew for the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shevat. In 2023, Tu B'shvat begins at sundown on Sunday, Feb. 5 and ends at sundown on Monday, Feb. 6.
Tu b'Shvat is first...
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....
RABBI JOSEF DAVIDSON
• Published December 29, 2022
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,...
By Rabbi Brigitte Rosenberg
• Published December 22, 2022
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...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — During a closely-watched press conference with Ukraine’s Jewish president, Volodymr Zelensky, President Joe Biden brought up the Hanukkah story, comparing Ukraine’s struggle against Russia to the Maccabees’ uprising.
“Tonight...
