BY RABBI LANE STEINGER
• Published January 1, 2021
I write this message during a season of endings. The secular year is coming to its close, and this Shabbat we fittingly will read the concluding parashah of B’reyshit, the Book of Genesis. Our Torah Reading is Va-y’chi, Genesis 47:28-50:26, which...
If you have been following the news lately, you know that the 2020 U.S. Census has garnered its share of recent headlines. If you’ve been paying attention to our Torah lections for the past couple of months, you’re also aware that more than one census...
By Rabbi Lane Steinger
• Published December 14, 2016
I am a sports fan. An unashamed, unabashed sports fan. To be sure, I want to see a better world, one that is fairer and more just, one in which there is respect for all persons and living things, for the planet, its populations and its ecosystems, and...
The Israelites still are in the Wilderness. They still are preparing to inaugurate usage of the Mishkan/Dwelling-place, the portable wilderness Sanctuary or Tabernacle. Our Torah portion opens with these words: “The Eternal spoke to Moses as follows....
We conclude this week with a special Shabbat, Shabbat Ha-gadol/The Great Sabbath, the Shabbat that precedes Passover.The name Shabbat Ha-gadol is derived from Malachi 3:4-4:24, the Haftarah, or reading from the Prophets, for this Shabbat, which declares,...
By Rabbi Lane Steinger
• Published November 18, 2015
As our Torah Portion this week opens, we find Jacob on the road. Last week we learned that he either is fleeing from his furious twin brother Esau (see Genesis 27:41-45) or is off to find an acceptable wife (see Genesis 27:45-28:5)- or both. And so now...
By Rabbi Lane Steinger
• Published November 5, 2014
Va-yeyra, our Torah Portion this week, is packed full of fascinating episodes. It contains the narrative of the extraordinary visit to Abraham and Sarah and announcement that the aged Matriarch will give birth “when life is due.” The parashah continues...
As I was preparing to write this message, I read a disturbing news article. Barbara Surk and John Heilprin of The Associated Press reported that the U.N. Commission on Refugees had announced that the number of men, women and children displaced from their...
A few weeks ago I had the privilege of meeting at the Central Agency for Jewish Education with some outstanding local religious school teachers. Our topic was “The Exodus as a Master Story in Judaism.” At the outset, I wrote this title on the board...
By Rabbi Lane Steinger
• Published January 23, 2013
The Exodus story is the biblical account of the birth of the people Israel. Our Torah Portion this week, B’shalach, Exodus 13:17-17:16, relates the latter part of the Exodus saga. Chapter 15 of the Book of Exodus is the heart of this week’s parashah....
Throughout the Jewish year there are several Shabbatot/Sabbaths which have an added significance. This week will end with one: Shabbat Parah (the Sabbath of Parah Adumah/the Red Heifer), one of a series of special Shabbatot which lead up to Passover....
By Rabbi Lane Steinger
• Published October 26, 2011
Are you familiar with the "Noahides"? Noahides, or "B'nai Noach/Children of Noah," are non-Jews who commit themselves to living by the Seven Noahide Laws, which were derived by the Talmudic Sages from this week's Torah Portion.The Parashah for the week...
