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Learning from the Bene Israel of India
“Rabbi, what will you do about the rain?” Exhausted and in shock from my first exposure to the realities of the swarming, squalid city of Mumbai, then called Bombay, I stared back, perplexed and concerned. “Don’t you know, Rabbi, there is a drought here in Maharashtra.” Their thoughts, though unsaid, were loud and clear: “We…
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Elevating the Physical Through Shabbat
“Noah is Shabbat” – Tikuney Zohar, 138b The seventh Rebbe of Lubavitch, the great Tzadik, Rabbi M. M. Schneerson taught (in Maamar Bati L’gani) that the place of God’s most intense dwelling in this world is the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, and the beams which hold up the Mishkan are called in Hebrew, “kerashim.” He said…
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The Power of Prayer
This week’s Torah portion is Noah. Many of the commentaries on this portion focus on Prayer. But what does prayer have to do with Noah and the flood? The answer I think lies in a question that is often asked about Noah: Was he really a righteous man compared to Abraham, or only righteous compared…
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From Sinai to the Tabernacle
In this week’s torah portion, Tzav, the torah continues its description from last week of the sacrifices and their rituals. For us who live in the current period of time in the Western world animal sacrifice is fairly foreign and seems in many respects barbaric. To us perhaps reading about the sacrifices in…
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Bridging the Divide
We have just finished the High Holidays, culminating with Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret. Over the course of the holiday of Sukkot, we offer 70 bulls in the Temple, corresponding to the 70 nations. On the 8th day, Shemini Atzeret, we bring one bull for the Jewish people. Jews are not xenophobic. We believe that the…
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The Jewish Perspective on Truth and Governance
The Shulchan Aruch, Code of Jewish Law, states that if three identical pieces of meat, one which is unkosher and two which are kosher, become mixed together in one container, we are permitted to eat all of them. We know that one of these pieces is not kosher, and yet as we pull each one…
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Understanding Sacrifices: Perspectives from Torah and Tradition
In this week’s Torah portion, Tzav, the torah continues its description from last week of the sacrifices and their rituals. For us who live in the current period of time in the Western world animal sacrifice is fairly foreign and seems in many respects barbaric. To us perhaps reading about the sacrifices in the Torah…
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Breaking Free from Narrow Thinking
Our era, ironically, has been called the age of communication. When I was young, making a phone call from Israel to the United States cost a great deal and was not simple, so one might speak to their relatives abroad only rarely. When my oldest was in Israel about 5 years ago calling was…
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Abraham’s Nature and the Path of the People
This week’s torah portion, Lech L’cha begins with God telling Abraham to leave his homeland and go, “to a place which I will show you.” According to the Ramban God took Avrom traveling for a long time from land to land. Why? As Rashi says, “in order to make your nature, (your personality), known in…
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Exile, Manna, and the Journey to Self-Realization
In this week’s torah portion, Ekev, Moshe reviews some of the people’s time in the desert over the last 40 years and speaks several times about the mannah they ate in the desert. When Moshe speaks about the mannah though, he connects it in our parsha, more than once to pain. “Remember the long way…
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Awakening to God: The Journey of Seeing and Changing
This week’s parsha is our first introduction to Avrohom, the first Jew. We know very little about him except what God tells him: “Go for yourself, from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I…
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From Manna to Harvest: Remembering God in Our Success
It all begins with an idea.
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Building the Jewish Future: Kesher Israel’s Mission of Connection
“And God said to Avram, go for yourself from your land, your birthplace, and from the house of your father, to the land which I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. And…
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Becoming a Vessel
This week’s Torah portion is Lech Lecha in which God tells Abraham to leave his land, his family and his birthplace, and “go to a land which I will show you.” Why, ask the commentaries, doesn’t God just tell him where he is being led; to the Land of Israel? Why all the mystery? The Sefat…
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The Power of Letting Go in Community Building
This week’s Torah portion is Lech Lecha, in which God tells Abraham to leave his land, his family and his birthplace, and “go to a land which I will show you.” Why, ask the commentaries, doesn’t God just tell him where he is being led – to the Land of Israel? Why all the mystery?…
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A Reflection on Free Will and the Role of Perspective
The ten plagues in last week’s and this week’s Torah portions present us with the age-old philosophical dilemma: How can God punish Pharaoh if God has hardened Pharaoh’s heart? Justice dictates that reward and punishment can only be for violations or merits which are the product of one’s free will. Maimonides takes the Torah at…
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How Humility Shapes Our Relationship with God
This week’s parsha, Ekev, begins with Moshe’s words of warning to the Jewish People: V’haya ekev tishmaun, “And it will be, ekev, (“since” or “because”) you will heed these ordinances and keep them, that the Lord, your God, will keep for you the covenant and the kindness that He swore to your forefathers.” The word…