This week’s double portion, Matot-Masei, includes a number of dramatic and memorable moments from the Torah: The Israelites go to war with Midian; the daughters of Tzelafechad finally receive their inheritance after making a bold legal and moral argument...

Recently, I was invited to facilitate a discussion for an interfaith group of younger seminarians. The organizer, a delightful, gregarious and deeply spiritual professor of Christian theology, wanted me to expose his students to the “Jewish Approach...

In Parashat Balak, we read a vivid and strange episode in the life of the Israelites. As the Israelites draw near to Moab, the Moabites find themselves terrified of this foreign people approaching their country. The Moabite king, Balak, decides to meet...

In this week’s Parasha, Chukat, the Israelites are faced with two major blows to their community: the deaths of Miriam and Aaron. When Miriam dies, the Torah tells us “there was no water for the congregation; and they assembled themselves together...

In this week’s Torah portion, Korach, we witness a type of politics to which we American Jews have become accustomed. You see, Korach feels that Moses’ and Aaron’s leadership has become entrenched, that it is rife with elitism and nepotism and that...

Hidden away amid the famous story in this week’s Torah portion of the spies sent to scout the land of Israel, and tucked behind the suspense and drama of false testimony, communal wailing and the punishment of 40 years wandering the desert, we find...

People often ask me how I chose to be a rabbi. For many, if not most, the decision to lead a life of religious service is at least a little odd. “There must be a story,” a neighbor of mine said recently.Often, however, my story is a letdown. Making...

When I was a very young rabbi in my first position as B’nai B’rith chaplain to the Mayo Clinic system’s hospitals, I met a woman from a Hasidic community during my rounds one day. As we were talking, she gave voice to a crisis in faith. As...

Parashat Emor opens with a list of laws and regulations that outline differences between the Temple Priests and the rest of the community: The priests must mourn differently, marry differently, treat their bodies differently and fiercely guard the ritual...

Our Torah portions this week are the double portions of Acharei Mot and Kedoshim. Parashat Kedoshim contains, arguably, the most well-known verse in the Torah – “Love your neighbor as yourself; I am Adonai” (Lev. 19:18). Sometimes known as “the...

As a child, I remember hearing the familiar refrain, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names can never hurt me.” Even in my youth, I knew this was flawed. The ways we interact with one another and the words we use matter deeply, a lesson that...