• Lessons of the Three Weeks for a Polarized World

    Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem. This coming week, with the fast of the 17th of Tamuz, begins the Three Weeks of mourning for the destruction of the Temple and the exile. The Talmud tells us that destruction comes to the Jewish people when they are divided, when there is hatred among us. This turns out to…

  • Kohanim, Levites, and the Call to Serve

    In the first of this week’s parshiot, Matot, the Torah writes: “God spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Avenge the Israelite people against the Midianites; then you shall be gathered to your kin.’ Moses, in turn, told the army, ‘Let troops be picked out from among you for a campaign, and let them fall upon Midian to…

  • In Moshe’s Shadow: A World in Need of True Leadership

    In the first of this week’s double portions, Chukat, the Jewish people complain twice and Moshe’s response is not only unusual, but deeply perplexing. First, the people complain about the lack of water; God instructs Moshe to speak to the rock to draw out its waters. Instead of speaking, Moshe strikes the rock with his…

  • Holiness, Leadership, and the Limits of Equality

    In this week’s Torah portion, Korach, Moshe’s cousin Korach challenges the leadership of Moshe and Aaron alongside 250 men. He says, “The whole nation is holy, and God is among them, so why do you elevate yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?”  The verses which follow clarify that Korach and those with him wanted…

  • Learning from the Sins of the Complainers and Spies

    In this week’s parshat, Beha’alotcha, the Torah tells us that the Jewish people brought an offering on their first Passover in the desert, which was exactly one year after leaving Egypt: the 15th of Nisan. Strangely, though, nine chapters earlier the book of Bamidbar began in the second month – Iyar. So why now is…

  • Counting with Care: The Individual in the Multitude

    In this week’s parsha, Nasso, the counting of the Jewish people which began in the previous parsha, is completed. Rash”i (Numbers 1:1) comments: “Because the people are dear to God, God counts them often.  When they went forth from Egypt God counted them, when many of them fell in consequence of their having worshiped the golden…

  • Hoshea’s Prophetic Allegory: A Lesson in Mercy and Judgment

    The regular haftarah for Parshat Bamidbar is a curious one — though this year, we will read Machar Chodesh in its stead since the new moon is on Sunday this coming week. The haftarah for Parashat Bamidbar, from the Book of Hosea, opens with God commanding Hoshea the Prophet to marry a harlot.  He has three…

  • From Vengeance to Sensitivity

    In this week’s Torah  portion, Matos-Masey, God tells Moshe to attack Midyan in order to avenge their attempt to defeat the Jewish people.  But Moshe does not do it himself, nor does he appoint anyone directly, instead he makes a general call out to the Jewish people telling them to appoint soldiers and take care…

  • Tzelafchad’s Daughters and the Passover Lesson

    In this week’s Torah portion, Pinchas, the Land of Israel is divided by tribes and male heads of families.  The daughters of a man named Tzelafchad, who had a great love for the Land of Israel, come forward and declare:  “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not one of Korah’s faction, which banded…

  • The Parah Adumah and the Sacred Boundary Between Life and Death

    In this week’s parsha we are told of the Parah Adumah, the Red Heifer, an animal which was slaughtered and burned outside the Tabernacle, then its ashes were mixed with water and, perplexingly, when this mixture was sprinkled upon someone who was impure they became pure. What is “tumah,” this impurity which the Torah often…

  • Servant Leadership in the Face of Ego

    In this week’s Torah portion, Moses and Aaron’s cousin Korach and 250 leaders of the Jewish people gather against Moses and Aaron and say, “Its enough for you, for, the whole people are holy and God is in their midst, so why do you lord over the congregation of God?”  In the end Korach and…

  • Yom Yerushalayim: Gratitude, Humility, and Responsibility

    This past Sunday was Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem day, commemorating the day in 1967 that Israeli forces took east Jerusalem and the old city back from Jordanian control. On that day Defense Minister Moshe Dayan declared: ”This morning, the Israel Defense Forces liberated Jerusalem. We have united Jerusalem, the divided capital of Israel. We have returned…

  • Listening, Rebuilding, and Moving Forward Together

    Positive things have happened over the past two years.  Many new people have moved into our community- mostly young but some older, and some who left town during the pandemic for other cities have moved back, realizing they could not find in the bigness of Jewish life in New York what they had in the…

  • Investing in Israel: Challenges, Sacrifices, and Hope for the Future

    This week Israel feels a bit like the stock market.   The overall trend is always up, it’s certainly the best investment over time, but in the short term its unpredictable and there sure are ups and downs.  Though I am no expert, this seems to have been an unprecedented year in Israeli politics –…

  • The Dual Call of Leadership

    In this week’s Torah portion, B’ha’aloticha, the Levites are designated to replace the first born as those who will serve in the Tabernacle, as the Torah states:  “Take the Levites from among the Israelites and purify them.  This is what you shall do to them to purify them: sprinkle  the water of purification on them,…

  • Physical vs. Spiritual Counting

    In the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Bamidbar, the Torah relates that on the first day of the second month, God tells Moses to count the Jewish people.  This is the third time in the Torah that the Jewish people are counted, as Rashi (Rabbi Shlomoh Isaac, 11century French Torah commentator) says, “They are…

  • Sacred Intentions, Dangerous Actions

    In this week’s Torah portion, Korach, we are told of a challenge to Moses and Aaron’s leadership in the desert.   Moses and Aaron’s cousin Korach and 250 leaders of the Jewish people come to Moshe and Aaron and say, “The whole people are holy and G-d is in their midst, so why do you…

  • Spirituality in the Gritty Reality: Lessons from the Spies

    In this week’s Torah portion, Shelach, the Jewish people have completed the short trek from Mount Sinai to the Land of Israel.  God tells them to send the heads of each tribe as spies to spy out the Land of Israel.  After 40 days the spies return. Ten spies bring a bad report of the…

  • The Power of Gratitude: Moses’ Response to Complaints

     In this week’s Torah portion, Be’halot’cha, the Torah writes:“Those traveling with the Jewish people (in the desert) had a desire, and the Jewish people also cried out and said, Who will feed us meat?  We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for free and now our souls are dry because all we have is…

  • The Sanctification of the Firstborn

    In this week’s parsha, Bamidbar, the Jewsih people are counted in preparation for war and entering the Land of Israel.  The Levites are then counted and exchanged for the first born:  “I hereby take the Levites from among the Israelites in place of all the first-born, the first issue of the womb among the Israelites:…