Every October, there is one particular morning when our congregation’s Religious School telephone begins ringing off the hook at exactly 9 a.m. and doesn’t stop ringing all day long. That’s the day, somewhat arbitrarily chosen, when families of...
By Rabbi Josef A. Davidson
• Published August 1, 2012
Many years ago when I was a hospital chaplain providing pastoral care to Jewish patients and residents of all of the local hospitals and nursing homes in the Denver area, I met a young woman in a locked psychiatric unit who had attempted suicide. I...
Naso is the longest portion in the weekly readings of Torah with 176 verses. After detailing the priestly purpose in the book of Leviticus, we come to the Book of Numbers and guess what? The first two portions begin with a census. Naso begins with an...
By Rabbi James Stone Goodman
• Published May 16, 2012
O holy parshat Behar, you are speaking to me in the voice of metaphor, poetics, images. We call an image a mashal — a parable, an example. You open with the mashal: Begin with keeping the Sabbath of the land (Leviticus 25:2). The Sabbath of the land;...
At Sinai, I imagine the Israelites might have felt a compelling need to look up as God was up there above and beyond the clouds. Given such a lofty beginning, it would be understandable to think that Torah was also up there- beyond our comprehension....
By Rabbi Mordecai Miller
• Published April 6, 2011
At any point in the day we are subject to some kind of mood. Just like colors, some may be intense and some may be almost bland. Surprise, pleasure, stress, joy, security, anxiety, anger, dislike, depression, dismay, anticipation, disappointment - the...
