Shabbat Shalom, friends— I’m writing to you from Israel—first I was in Jerusalem, where I spent the week teaching Talmud and Jewish pedagogical methodology to a worldwide network of Jewish schools. Our shared aim was to deepen Jewish literacy while… Read More »
God Rejected Hamas, so Be Like the Holy One… The world was filled with HAMAS חמס, and God knew that it had to start over. The commentators argue about whether the hamas (word used in our parsha to describe the… Read More »
Affirming We are “My Brother’s Keeper” When we hear a candidate for public office deny the Jewish People their eternal right to the land of Israel and the Zionist dream of building and maintaining a Jewish State among the comity… Read More »
Moses wants to stir hearts as he recites poetry that reminds the Children of Israel that God is forever just and the source of moral authority in our lives. God is forever your touchstone and torch he tells Israel. Transgress… Read More »
Shabbat Shuvah takes its name from the haftarah’s chorus of return, שובה ישראל, weaving Hosea, Joel, and Micah into a single call. In the eighth-century BCE, Hosea warned Judea not to follow the northern kingdom into Assyrian collapse. Assyria’s imperial… Read More »
D’var Torah PARASHAT NITZAVIM & PREPARE FOR HIGH HOLY DAYS WITH MELODY REMINDERS BELOW “וְשַׁבְתָּ עַד ה׳ אֱ-לֹהֶיךָ” – “And you shall return to the Lord your God” (Deut. 30:2). As we reach the last Shabbat of the year, Parashat… Read More »
PARASHAT KI TAVO And you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your house — you, and the Levite, and the stranger(?) that is among you.” (Devarim/Deuteronomy 26:11) The Levites were Temple… Read More »
PARASHAT KI TETZE This week’s haftarah (Isaiah 54:1–10) continues the cycle of the shiv’ah d’nechemta—the “seven haftarot of consolation” after Tisha B’Av. The prophet Isaiah brings us a vision of compassion and kindness as God promises never again to abandon… Read More »
PARASHAT SHOFTIM The Profound Duty of Witnessing In this week’s parashah, Shoftim, we encounter a significant exploration of justice, governance, and the critical role of witnesses in a just society. The Torah states in Deuteronomy 19:15: לֹא-יָקוּם עֵד אֶחָד בְּאִישׁ,… Read More »
The Sacred Art of the Small Stuff & the Minute Detail The opening verse of Parshat Eikev states: “וְהָיָה עֵקֶב תִּשְׁמְעוּן אֵת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים הָאֵלֶּה” – “And it shall be, because (eikev) you hearken to these ordinances…” (Deuteronomy 7:12) Rashi, with… Read More »