By Rabbi Lane Steinger
• Published November 4, 2010
Picture the aged Patriarch, confined to his bed, eyes too dim to see. He summons his oldest child, his first born and favorite son. Isaac says to Esau, the hirsute outdoorsman, the manly hunter, "Make for me tasty dishes such as I love and bring them...
By Rabbi Lynn Goldstein
• Published October 20, 2010
You might say that some of the people I work with in the city have lived-or still do, in a modern day Sodom and Gemorah. Each person's story is different, each person's reaction to the situation is different, and each person's struggle is different. But...
By Rabbi Brigitte Rosenberg
• Published October 13, 2010
How does a journey begin? It begins with a moment - it could be a thought, a realization, an "aha" a phone call. And the journey that lies ahead, whether good or bad, often leaves us with a certain amount of fear as we face the unknown. In this week's...
By Rabbi James Stone Goodman
• Published October 6, 2010
You entered the Ark Noah (Genesis 7:1), that is teivah which is also the word for the basket into which Yocheved would place baby Moses for safekeeping (Exodus 2:3). Moses was saved by the teivah. Teivah also means word. You entered the teivah, Noah,...
by Rabbi Mordecai Miller
• Published September 29, 2010
One of the most eye-opening classes I was privileged to attend during my years at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institue of Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio was the elective given by Professor Chanan Brichto. His subject was the opening chapters of Genesis...
By Rabbi James Stone Goodman
• Published September 1, 2010
On this day [Rosh Hashanah] the moon is covered, and it does not shine until the tenth day, when Israel turns. — Zohar On Selichot, we introduce the notions that we will pick up and follow through the days of Awe. Selichot are piyyutim (piyyut from...
"It shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell therein, that you shall take of the first of all the fruit of the ground ... and you shall come to the priest that shall be...
BY RABBI JOSEF A. DAVIDSON
• Published August 18, 2010
When a nation goes to war against its enemies, it is not unusual for soldiers, who are usually very young and unable to participate in the normal social activities of youth, to come upon women in the time of battle and to view them as objects subject...
BY RABBI RANDY FLEISHER
• Published August 12, 2010
On the ‘wish list' for our synagogue sanctuary is to have a pasuk, a sentence or phrase from a Jewish text tastefully sculpted onto the wall above the ark. One of our top choices is from Shofetim, this week's Torah portion: "Justice, justice, shall...
By Rabbi Dale Schreiber
• Published August 4, 2010
There is a proverb that reads, ‘without vision, people perish.' The Torah projects a vision for what is humanly possible. This week's portion, Re'eh, is found in Deuteronomy, the book which emphasizes social justice, personal ethics and neighborly responsibility....
When my son Noah became a bar mitzvah in May if 1994, it was a milestone for me as well. Both of my parents survived the Shoah as, very-nearly, sole next of kin to an extended family of 100-plus persons. Then when I was 11 and my sisters were 13 and 7,...
Parshat Balak tells the story of the prophet Bilam who was hired by King Balak to curse the Israelites. Despite his efforts and warnings by talking donkeys, waking dreams and even angels of God that he should not go ahead with this mission, Bilam persists....
