There is almost as much to unpack in this section of the Torah (Behaalotcha) as there is to unpack from these past weeks and months.  In fact, there is so much to unpack, that I will need a little help; no, a lot of help.  It’s always a good thing...

With Parashat B’midbar, we begin reading Sefer B’midbar, the Book of Numbers, which recounts the stories of the people of Israel’s time living in the midbar, the desert wilderness. It is to the midbar that the Israelites go upon leaving Egypt, and...

We have been reading this richly symbolic section of the Torah on the Mishkan, the mobile sacred dwelling place for the Divine Presence. As we complete the reading of the instructions in Parashat Ki Tissa, it is worth thinking about how we create the...

Is  every mitzvah, every commandment equally important?  In some sense, of course — if we understand God as the source of mitzvot, commandments, then every mitzvah is an equal opportunity to obey or disobey God and God’s will for us.  And plus,...

This week’s parasha begins with a communication breakdown. In its opening lines, G-d shares something fantastic with Moses: G-d has remembered the Israelites and is going to take them out of slavery. Wonderful news! Time for the Israelites to rejoice...

As we come to the end of the year, it can be tempting to focus on setting goals, creating resolutions, and imagining dreams for the year ahead. But all too often, we fall short of these goals and end up frustrated, whether we want to move ahead in our...

I have one sister and three brothers. My brothers and I were fiercely protective of our sister, especially when she came of age to date. Her dates would have to run the gauntlet! During her high school years, I don’t believe that there was a single...

The U.S. Army was monitoring a largely Jewish group of protesters who traveled in August from St. Louis to Fort Sill in Lawton, Okla., to protest the planned detention of migrant children at the facility, according to a report in The Intercept.The digital...

Rabbi Mark Joel Mahler wrote, “On [his] first Shabbat in Jerusalem, I was at the  Kotel [Wall] with three other first-year Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion students when Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach walked up to us, wished each of us...

Beginning with the month of Elul, we are into the Days of Awe ascent. In the synagogue we read the messages of consolation from the prophet Isaiah, leaving the descent of the three weeks of sadness drawn now towards the heights of awe. Where we have...

“My name is Jaakelin Caal Maquin. At the age of 7, I died on Dec. 8, 2018, after being detained by the El Paso border patrol.”LAWTON, Okla. — The 100-degree southwestern Oklahoma heat beat down on Heartland for Human Justice trip participants as,...

Six small local nonprofit organizations just received a grant from the Rabbi Robert P. Jacobs Jewish Fund for Human Needs (JFHN). A total of $18,000 was awarded.  JFHN awarded an emergency grant of $500 to EnergyCare in response to the prolonged heat...