By Rabbi Josef Davidson
• Published April 29, 2015
My favorite professor in rabbinical school taught Semitic languages, and I took virtually every course that he taught in Aramaic, Syriac and Arabic. His own Ph. D. had been earned at the Sorbonne, and his thesis was the culmination of his study of what...
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov once told a story about a young prince. One day, he suddenly decided that he was no longer a human being but, rather, a turkey. As a turkey, he sat underneath the table, naked, and picked at bits of bread and bones. The king and...
Few words can describe the experience encapsulated in two simple words in this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Shemini. Upon hearing that his two older sons had been killed in a fire while attempting to perform service to God, Aaron is distraught. His...
Pesach is one of our most joyous festivals and, for many of us, a definite favorite. It can feel odd, then, to conclude the holiday with Yizkor, the memorial service. Yet the pairing of celebration and mourning is central to Judaism and seems perhaps...
By Rabbi Roxanne J.S. Shapiro
• Published April 1, 2015
On the eve of our Passover sederim, we will sit and read from our haggadot. We will participate in blessings and retell the story of our exodus from Egypt. We will taste foods and point out their symbolism. We will give thanks.During the course of the...
By Margi Lenga Kahn, Special to the Jewish Light
• Published March 25, 2015
I am often reminded that everyday coincidences affect our lives or, in the case of this food columnist, the themes of my columns. Let me explain. I received notice that one of my favorite Israeli chefs, Einat Admony, would be hosting a Passover seder...
By Rabbi James Stone Goodman
• Published March 25, 2015
Leviticus was his favorite book. He had several shelves in the category of sifrei drush — books of interpretation — that when we packed up his library he paused to linger among them before assigning them to the inevitable give-away box. A shelf of...
BY RABBI DALE SCHREIBER
• Published March 18, 2015
The Book of Leviticus opens in the aftermath of Divine Revelation and the focused energies of the wandering Israelites for building a portable sanctuary. They are still carrying the weight of a learned history acquired during their long sojourn in Egyptian...
Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose
• Published March 11, 2015
This coming Shabbat, Jews the world over will be blessed with a uniquely “thick” liturgical experience. In addition to a lengthy Torah reading spanning the two concluding sections of Sefer Shemot (Exodus) — the double portion of VaYakhel and...
“Not-one, not-two, not-three” – those who attend daily services will recognize this as the method employed in counting the number of people in attendance in order to determine if a quorum, or minyan, has been reached. For millennia Judaism has had...
By Rabbi Hyim Shafner
• Published February 18, 2015
This week’s Torah portion, Tetzaveh, almost always falls during the week of the holiday of Purim, which this year will be Wednesday night, March 4, and Thursday, March 5. Purim was the day 2,500 years ago in Persia when Haman tried to annihilate all...
By Rabbi James Stone Goodman
• Published February 11, 2015
I preside several times a month over a small synagogue that opens onto the Royal Dining Room at Covenant Place, where mostly older folks live. I get a kick out of that name. I always think I’m on some kind of cruise ship – which I am.The kaddishim...
