• How can we understand antisemitism?

    In this week’s Torah portion, Miketz, Joseph becomes the second-in-command to Pharaoh and, utilizing his power, saves the Levant from famine. Pharaoh honors Joseph, promotes him to second-in-command, and things are wonderful in Egypt for the Children of Israel. But we, the readers of the Torah, know that two parshiot later a new king will…

  • Lessons from Shechem

    In this week’s Torah portion, Vayeshev, the sale of Joseph by his brothers takes place. However, selling him was not his brothers’ original intent. The Torah is very clear: they meant to kill their brother even though he came in peace, because they were jealous of him. “His (Joseph’s) brothers were jealous of him…His brothers…

  • Cultivation of Truth

    In this week’s Torah portion, Vayishlach, Jacob fights with the angel of Esau in a prefiguring of future struggles between the Jews and their enemies. Esau is the grandfather of Amalek, the source of all antisemitism. Antisemitism is fueled not only by hatred of Jews but by the erasure of truth, enabling millennia-old falsehoods and…

  • Finding Light in the Darkness

    This week’s torah portion, Vayetzey, opens with Jacob running away from his brother Esaw who wants to kill him for taking his firstborn blessing.  Jacob is going to his uncle Laban’s ranch on the eastern side of the Jordan River in Haran.  The Torah writes: “Jacob left Beer-Sheva, and set out toward Haran. He bumped…

  • Prayer as Relationship

    This week’s Torah portion, Toldot, opens, “And Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rivka… And Isaac prayed to God opposite his wife because she was barren, and God responded to his prayer, and Rivka became pregnant.” The word for prayer here is not the normal word that is used, lehitpalel or lehitchanen, to pray or ask,…

  • The faiths of our foreparents

    This week’s Torah portion, Chayei Sarah, literally “The life of Sarah,” begins with Sarah’s death, which follows the story of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac, at the end of last week’s portion. Rashi is bothered by the strange juxtaposition of the almost slaughtering of Isaac by Abraham and the death of Sarah, and quoting…

  • Being Athens, Being Sparta

    The State of Israel has achieved something truly miraculous: the ability, in the words of Daniel Schueftan, Director of the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa, to be both Athens and Sparta. Athens was a center for culture, philosophy and democracy, known for its intellectual achievements. In contrast, Sparta was a militaristic…

  • Rain of Blessing

    In this week’s parsha, Noach, we read about the flood that destroys the world and about Noach the Righteous, who is saved along with his family and all the animals in the Ark. Rashi, known for his succinct style, in this instance repeats himself several times, all on the same theme. When God tells Noach…

  • Life, Death, and the Sefer Torah

    This week’s Torah portion, Vayechi, begins with the death of Jacob. Similar to the death of Sarah, which began with a sentence about life (“And it was the life of Sarah…”), Jacob’s death is also introduced with life (“And Jacob lived…”). Life and death are intertwined. We live but we also know that death stands…

  • The 70 faces of the Torah

    This week’s parsha is quite perplexing. The Torah tells us that Joseph spoke lashon hara, slander, about his brothers and that the brothers decided to kill him for it. “And each man said to his brother, ‘Behold, the dreamer comes. So now let us go and kill him and throw him into one of the…

  • Am I in the place of God?

    In this week’s Torah portion, Vayetzei, Jacob marries two sisters, Leah and Rachel. Leah has children but Rachel, his favorite, is barren: “When Rachel saw that she had borne Jacob no children, she became envious of her sister; and Rachel said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I shall die.’ Jacob became angry at Rachel…

  • The Struggle for Blessing

    Jews do not often talk about God. We are comfortable with mitzvot, commandments, but we speak less than other religions directly about God. Perhaps this is because God is abstract—we are physical beings, and God is infinite—so we approach the Divine by obeying God’s word, by studying and keeping the Torah, which is a way…

  • The Reign of Esther

    This week’s Torah portion is called Chayei Sarah, The Life of Sarah, but really is about her death and burial: “And it was the life of Sarah, one hundred years and twenty years and seven years, these were the years of Sarah. And Sarah died…” The Midrash in Bereshit Rabbah relates the following story: “Rabbi…

  • Hospitality and Religious Tolerance

    This week I attended two events which highlighted the importance of religious freedom in America. The first was a gathering of the Rumi Forum, an organization founded by American Muslims to bring together people of different religions for dialogue and study. Their study method, called scriptural reasoning, involves looking at an idea as it is…

  • Tolerance and Acceptance in a Divided World

    We have just completed an election in which the American people are deeply divided. Half the country is happy, hopeful and victorious and half is sad, scared and defeated. Some even think that our democracy itself is a failed experiment. What does the Torah say about this? Can one take pride in the democratic process…

  • Gifts

    This past month of Tishrei holidays was an inspiring one at Kesher Israel. Yom Kippur was one to remember, with a packed shul, lots of singing throughout the services and joyous dancing during Neilah. A larger number of our members built sukkot—in yards, on porches and in courtyards of apartment buildings.    Shemini Atzeret was both…

  • From Selfie King to Savior: Yosef’s Glow-Up in the Pit

    In this week’s Torah portion, Vayeshev, Yosef is 17 years old and quite self-involved. He is a dreamer and, as Rashi tells us, constantly coming his hair, and overly concerned with his outward appearance. He seems haughty, declaring his dreams to his family, which are perceived by his father and brothers as being about Yosef’s …

  • Grappling with Rising Antisemitism in a Shifting Zeitgeist

    Over the past five years and especially since October 7th, antisemitic acts have been on a sudden and jarring rise, and Kesher Israel has been no exception.  The number of incidents at Shul, whether people driving by and yelling “Heil Hitler,” or nearby graffiti about the situation in Israel, has risen in recent months.  This…

  • The value of despair

    In this week’s Torah portion, Vayeshev, Yosef is 17 years old and quite self-involved. He is a dreamer and, as Rashi tells us, constantly combing his hair, and overly concerned with his outward appearance. He seems haughty, declaring his dreams to his family, which are perceived by his father and brothers as being about Yosef’s own…

  • How Struggling with Esaw Shapes Our Faith

    Where does faith in God and in Torah come from? There are many places—our tradition itself is certainly one source— the beauty of living a Jewish life itself is a fountain for, and practice of, faith. Additionally, there are “proofs” that medieval Jewish thinkers express such as the proof from design, that just as the…