• The Journey That Shaped a Nation

    In the second of this week’s Torah portions, Masei, the Torah writes, “These were the travels of the Israelites who came out of the land of Egypt, according to their hosts, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.  Moses wrote down the starting points of their various marches according to their travels, as directed by…

  • Vows, Leadership, and the Road to the Land

    In this week’s Parsha, Matos-Masei, the Jewish people stand on the bank of the Jordan river.  They have engaged in battle with the nations on the eastern side of that river, have survived the spiritual onslaught of the Moabites in last week’s parsha, and now they are poised to enter the land.   In these…

  • Joseph’s Early Mistake: The Path to Becoming a Tzadik

    This week’s Torah portion, Va’yeshev, begins by describing the relationship between Joseph and his brothers when Joseph was 17 years old. The Torah tells us that when Joseph was tending sheep with his brothers “…Joseph brought slander about them to his father. Israel loved Joseph more of all the brothers….and they (his brothers) were unable…

  • Nostalgia and the Value of Today

    This week’s second torah portion opens with Moshe reviewing all of the 42 stops that the Jewish people made in the desert over their 40 year trek from Egypt to Israel.  We know where they have been, why recount them?  Remembering the past is a familiar feeling to us.  It can come with regret or…

  • The Intersection of War, Community, and Personal Needs

    In the second of this week’s two Torah portions, Ma’asey, the Jewish people stand on the banks of the Jordan River poised to enter the Land of Israel.  They are commanded to make war with the people they will encounter there and to, “Drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy…

  • Balancing the Needs of the Community and the Individual

    In this week’s Torah portion, the Jewish people stand on the banks of the Jordan River poised to enter the Land of Israel.  They are commanded to make war with the people they will encounter there and to, “drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their molten images, and…

  • Neilah’s Call: Embracing the Heart of Prayer This Yom Kippur

    Rabbi Joseph Solovetchik explained that there are different forms of prayer. We fulfill an obligation to pray three times a day, we pray in order to take the place of sacrifices, we pray in times of great need. Maimonides says that an integral part of the process of teshuvah, of repentance and return, is prayer,…

  • A Call to Care for One Another in Times of Crisis

    This week’s parsha, Ki Tisa, speaks of counting the Jewish people by means of the half shekel.  The Torah states that this was done in order to avoid a plague that could result from the counting.  Indeed King David, against the better judgement of his advisors, insisted on counting the people and this did result…

  • The 13 Attributes of Mercy and the Role of Perspective

    This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa, contains the famous 13 Attributes of Mercy. We say them on fast days, and  on Yom Kippur we say them over and over in an attempt to beseech God for mercy.  As the Talmud says in Rosh Hashanah, 17b, “God appeared to Moses and taught him the 13 Attributes,…

  • Shabbat, the Mishkan, and the Golden Calf

    In this week’s parsha, Ki Tisa, the Jewish people, just after hearing God at Mount Sinai, worship the golden calf.  This of course is a great sin for which Moshe appeals to God’s mercy and ultimately, gains forgiveness for the people. Aviva Zorenberg points out that if we look at the larger context of the…

  • A Call to Bring Hope to the Dark Places in Our World

    The Talmud, Avoda Zava 8a, states: Our Sages taught: When Adam the first man saw that the day was progressively diminishing, as the days become shorter from the autumnal equinox until the winter solstice, he did not yet know that this is a normal phenomenon, and therefore he said: Woe is me; perhaps because I…

  • The Balance Between Passion and Purpose in the Mishkan

    This week’s double parsha is Vayakhel-Pekudei which concludes the book of Shemot.   The parsha begins with the commandment of shabbat.  But if we view these parshiot about the mishkan from 30000 feet an interesting pattern emerges.   The point is made by Avivah Zornberg that the story of Moshe on the mountain learning about…

  • Cultivating a Personal Jewish Life Amidst External Pressures

    Yosef is called Yosef HaTzadik, Joseph the Righteous.  He is the ancestor who lives in a foreign, idolatrous land, becomes well integrated into its structure functioning there as a great leader, and yet retains his Israelite religious values.  Yosef’s ability, in the face of Egyptian culture, to not only retain his values and religious outlook…

  • The Call to Reconnect: Finding God After Distance and Sin

    This week’s Torah portion, Pikudeh, the last in the book of Exodus, includes the completion of the Tabernacle, the moveable Temple that the Jewish people carried with them in the desert.  Following its erection the Divine presence rests upon it in fulfillment of God’s Biblical promise: “Make a sanctuary for Me and I will dwell…

  • Purim 2020

    In our era the glue which used to hold families together, interconnect members of communities, and unite nations, is dissolving.  I do not believe the Coronavirus is the cause of these ailments, but these hard times hold up a mirror to us.   Worldwide catastrophes exerts pressure, testing the bonds we may have thought were…

  • Sanctifying God’s Name in the Modern World

    In 1865, almost 100 Hungarian Rabbis, (in reaction to Reform and Enlightenment movements), signed a pisak din, a halachic decision, to forbid the following in Orthodox Shuls, and additionally decreed that anyone who finds themselves in such a shul should leave immediately: The derasha given in a “secular”  language other than Yiddish or Hebrew, a…

  • Building Bridges of Faith in a Time of Hate

    This past week Jews and Christians were attacked in the midst of religious celebration and prayer.   What prompts such attacks on religion?   Though on a conscious level this hate seems to be about prejudice itself, and for Jews it seems to come from many sides of the political spectrum,  I believe that it…

  • Lessons from Joseph and His Brothers

    We have just finished reading the story of Joseph and his brothers.  In it Joseph’s brothers experience confusion, despondency, and powerlessness as their brother secretively manipulates them, falsely accusing them of being spies and thieves.  One can imagine being in their shoes and asking: Why?  Why are all these terrible things happening?  Ultimately their worst…

  • Finding Meaning in Crisis

    This week’s parsha, Vayigash , is the culmination of several chapters documenting the intriguing story of Joseph and his brothers. Imagine yourself in the shoes of the brothers – the perplexity and horror at finding their money in their sacks, the viceroy’s cup in Benjamin’s sack – framed for a crime. Having to bring their…

  • Balancing Tradition: Orthodoxy’s Struggle with Extremes

    Orthodox Judaism, in its desire to create distance from liberal denominations, at times does itself a disservice.    This phenomenon is well known.  For instance our sometimes hyper focus on the letter of the law in a way that dismisses its deeper meaning I think is often in response to liberal denominations which stress the…