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...

A man goes on a business trip to a foreign country with his spouse. In preparation for this journey, he studies a bit about the culture, the people and the laws of the land. There is much to fear, though the reward of traveling there outweighs the fear....

For many of us, beginnings can be simultaneously exciting and challenging. There are many “new starts” that we face throughout our lives: new schools, new years, new careers, new family members and more. Some people may approach these opportunities...

Netzavim-Vayelech is a double portion, although the tradition treats them like conjoined twins, inextricably linked. Netzavim  (stand) and Veyelech (go out) are bookends.  They are read just short of the High Holiday when we gather to do the work that...

“Heart and Soul” is the title of a song composed in 1938 with music by Hoagy Carmichael and lyrics by Frank Loesser. It soon became a jazz and big band standard. The 1961 recording by the Cleftones endures as a rock ‘n’ roll and R&B anthem....

Deuteronomy, the final book of the Pentateuch, is called Devarim in Hebrew. It opens with Eileh ha’Devarim – These are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel on the other side of the Jordan in the 40th year. The book is a review of the incidents...

I was a little proud, and a little embarrassed, too, when I realized they had given me the hard part.  I was 18. It was the summer between high school and college, and I was in Jerusalem studying for a month at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies....

Last week, I took on an intimidating task. I assembled a bookcase. I pulled out the pieces, got out the screwdrivers and hammer, cleared a space and opened the booklet of instructions. I squinted at the incomprehensible diagrams and tried to connect...

In this week’s parashah, Tzav, we learn that the priest is to “dress in linen raiment, with linen breeches next to his body” when he takes up the ashes from the burn offering. We then learn that he should take off his vestments and put on other...

This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa, includes the infamous tale of golden calf. While Moses is atop Mount Sinai, the Israelites make for themselves an idol to worship, one that they can see and touch, one made by the work of their own hands.This triggers...

In the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Terumah, Moses has just ascended Mount Sinai after the saying of the aseret hadibrot, Ten Commandments, and G-d now commands Moses to tell the Jewish People to collect funds for the building of the Mishkan...

This week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim, literally means “laws,” and contains a large array of interpersonal civil commandments and regulations. Just before this portion, the Torah teaches about the building of an altar to G-d. The altar, which symbolizes...