• We Are All Holy: Korach’s Claim Revisited

    In this week’s Torah portion, Korach, Moshe’s cousin Korach (who is not a Kohen) approaches Moshe and Aaron with the claim, “the whole people is holy, why do you raise yourself up above the people of God?”  Moshe replies, “In the morning God will make known who is to Him and who are the holy…

  • From Insecurity to Strength: Moshe’s Journey of Growth

    Moshe’s heart is in the right place, he takes action to defend the weak and cares about those who are suffering.  Nevertheless, for three reasons Moshe does not seem like a very good choice as leader.  (1) He thinks himself incapable, telling God over and over that this is the case.  But it is in…

  • The True Challenge of the Akedah

    In this week’s Torah portion, Vayera Avrohom faces the most difficult of his ten tests, to sacrifice his child.  The Akedah is perhaps the most perplexing chapter in the Torah.  How could Avrohom agree to do what was forbidden?  When Cain killed Abel it can be argued that Cain did not know it was wrong.…

  • How Yaakov’s Flexibility Can Inspire Our Community

    In this week’s parsha, Toldot, the Torah tells us Rivka gave birth to two twin brothers, Yaakov and Esav.  Esav was a hairy person, a hunter and a man of the field and forest.  Jacob was “ish tam,” “a simple man who dwelled in the tent.”  Rash”i says “ish tam” means, “Someone who says what…

  • Love Your Neighbor: A Call to Action in a World Full of Tragedy

    What should our response be to living in a time in which we are aware of so many tragedies around the world as they happen?  The seminal book of Musar, Misilat Yisharim, writes that we must always ask, “Mah chovati baolami”, What is my obligation in this world?”  Everything which happens is a test for…

  • Beyond Social Distancing

    We are blessed with a community that is vibrant and diverse.  Many Shuls would be overjoyed to have the liveliness that hundreds of young professionals bring to a community, the wisdom of dozens of accomplished thinkers and politicians, and the commitment that many vatikin, those who have been members of the community for decades, bring.…

  • Cultivating Awareness and Holiness Through Jewish Law

    This week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim, is filled with the laws.  This parsha comes right after the giving of the Torah because law is so central to Jewish life.   It is one of Orhtodox Judaism’s hallmarks and great strengths that halacha, Jewish law, is at the pulsating center of individual and communal life-but it is…

  • The Rock, the Mourning, and the Power of Unity

    In this week’s parsha, Chukat, the Jewish people complain for water and Moshe hits the rock, resulting in the punishment that he will not be able to enter the Land of Israel.   The Jewish people have complained many times before, they have thirsted for water before and Moshe has brought water from a rock…

  • How Hearing and Sharing Narratives Brings Transformation

    This past shabbat i spoke of Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law.   The Torah tells us Yitro heard all that God did for the Jewish people in redeeming them from Egypt and came to moses and the Jewish people in the desert at Mount Sinai.   A few verses latter Moses tells Yitro the story of God…

  • The Beauty of Community and Prayer in Judaism

    This week’s parsha  is Mishpatim, which is filled with dozens of interpersonal laws.  The Jewish People  are a nation who have not worshiped God before.  They were slaves for several generations in a polytheistic land. Since the Torah was just given to them wouldn’t it make more sense to follow it with a parsha of…

  • Navigating Tradition and Change

    The Voice of Women in Holy Song and Prayer In the beginning of this past week’s Torah portion,Toldot, the Torah writes, “These are the generations of Isaac…” Surprisingly, we are told in the next verse that there are no generations, that Rivka, like each of our ancestors, was  barren.  The Torah comes to describe the…

  • The Balance of Mercy and Justice in Judaism

    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 relationship and peace between the Jews and G-d, must be built out of whole stones, since…

  • Embracing Both Tradition and Intellectual Inquiry

    In this week’s parsha God tells Yitzchak He will bless him, “because Avrohom listened to My voice, and guarded my commandments and my Torah.”   According to Rash”i this verse tells us that Avrohom actually kept the entire Torah even though it was not yet commanded.   The Kabbalah says that this was possible since…

  • Human Dignity and the Door to Repentance

    The Talmud tells the following story in tractate Berachot 10a: “There were hooligans in Rabbi Meir’s neighborhood who caused him a great deal of anguish. Rabbi Meir prayed for God to have mercy on them, that they should die. Rabbi Meir’s wife, Berurya, said to him: What is your thinking? On what basis do you…

  • The Torah’s Call to Combat Bias and Lashon Hara

    This week we read the double parsha of Acharey Mot and Kedoshim.  Acharey Mot deals mostly with the laws of Yom Kippur and forbidden sexual relations and Kidoshim is filled with a wide variety of laws, both ritual and interpersonal.  In Kedoshim the Torah states: “You shall not be unfair in judgment, do not favor…

  • The Golden Calf and the Freedom Found in Limitation

    In this week’s Torah portion, just 40 days after receiving the Divine Revelation at Mount Sinai, the Jewish people become anxious that Moses their leader will not return from on top of the mountain and they make for themselves a golden calf.   In the midst of their sensual, noisy, Dionysian worship of the calf…

  • Chasing Peace and Divine Lessons from Moses

    In this week’s Torah portion the Jewish people reach the east side of the Jordan River and must pass through the land of Sichon, king of the Amorites, in order to enter Israel. Moses sends Sichon a message asking that the Amorites let the Jewish people peacefully pass through their lands and the Jews promise…

  • Unlocking Holiness: The Power of Patience and Faith in Others

    In this week’s torah portion, Toldot, Rebecca the wife of Isaac is pregnant with twins who are struggling and moving within her womb a great deal.  She was extremely disturbed by this and went “to seek out G-d” for an explanation.  She was told there are “two nations in your womb…and the elder shall serve…

  • Beyond Doctrine: Embracing All Jews as Family

    We now feel separated and divided, but in many ways we are more unified. Families who never made the effort to get together are now uniting over Zoom.   Here at Kesher Israel each week we have been asking our members to teach as part of the new Voices of Kesher program -an opportunity to…

  • Seeing Beyond the Surface

    The Torah is multifaceted.  There are narratives and sub narratives, seeming non-sequiturs, repetitions, and juxtapositions, all of which from a traditional point of view, we believe are significant and rich grist for the interpretive mill.  In the story of Abraham’s family, I detect an interesting, seemingly subversive, sub-narrative. In Parshat Lech Licha, Yitzchak is clearly…