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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…
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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…
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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 –…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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:…
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Using the Pandemic to Reconnect with What Truly Matters
We are surrounded by mortality -here in the country we considered safely above epidemics, and in the world at large. This kind of widespread death shocks us from the comfort of our everyday denial of death. The human being’s constant background denial of their own mortality allows them to go on day to day, to…
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The Transformative Role of Counting in the Torah
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…
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The Danger of Self-Control Without Purpose
In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes the Sotah, the unfaithful wife and the priestly ceremony that she could voluntarily undergo to be exonerated if she were innocent. This is followed by the Nazir, the nazarite who electively enters an ascetic state forbidding wine upon himself, as well as refraining from cutting his hair and…
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Overcoming the Yetzer Hara: A Pathway to Divine Connection
In this week’s parsha, Be’halot’cha, we find two verses which are considered by many commentaries to be a separate book of the Torah, leaving us with seven books instead of the usual five, (a good thing to know for parsha quizzes!). These verses are set aside by an upside down form of the letter “nun”…
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Lessons from the Jewish People’s Recoil at the Promised Land
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…
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Empathy Beyond the Surface
This week we read the Parsha of Shelach. The Jewish people send spies into the land, and they return with a bad report. The people accept the report and as a result must spend 40 years traveling through the desert. Why do the spies, who are princes of their tribes, give a bad report?…
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Balancing Equality and Structure in Our Time
In this week’s Parsha, Moshe’s cousin Korach challenges Moshe’s leadership, and says: “The whole people are holy, why do you raise yourself above the people of God?” The Midrash comments: “Korah said to Moses, “In the case of a tallit which is all blue, what is the rule about it being exempt from having the…
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Korach, Exile, and Our Partial Return
In this week’s parsha, Korach, Korach comes forward with an “edah”, a congregation. It is composed of several disgruntled sub-groups with various complaints. One group is upset that they are not kohanim and another is upset that Moshe has not brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey. Moshe wants to speak to…
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Rethinking Holiness: The Legacy of Korach’s 250
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…
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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…
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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…
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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…