• Judaism as a national experience

    I dedicate these words of Torah to the memory of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim who were killed for being Jews here in our own city of Washington.  We mourn for them and pray for their families and all our people.  -Rabbi Shafner We are in the midst of counting the Omer, a 49-day…

  • Why do [] things happen to [] people?

    This week’s Torah portion, Bechukotai, brings up the profound and long standing philosophical question of theodicy, of justice and why bad things happen to good people: “If you walk in my ways, and guard my commandments, and do them, I will bring the rain in its time…”  The parsha then continues to tell us the…

  • LGBTQ+ and Halachic Change

    This past week, a young man from the Atlanta Orthodox community, a recent alumnus of Yeshiva University, committed suicide. According to newspaper reports: “Many believe — based on their conversations with [Herschel] Siegel, his social media posts and their own experiences — that Siegel had considered that there may have been no place for him…

  • Responsibility in the Face of Tragedy

    This Shabbat is the double parsha of Bihar-Bechukotai.   In Bechukotai we read of the blessings and curses which outline the good things that will happen to the Jews as a nation if they obey the word of God and the terrible things which will befall them if they do not.   Though these end…

  • From Exile to Redemption: The Power of Transition

    This week’s double parsha of Bihar and Bechukotai begins with shemitah, the commandment to let the land lay fallow every seven years.   One of the purposes of this mitzvah is for us to realize that we are not in charge.  We do not make the rain fall or the crops grow, nor did we…

  • Embracing Change on the Road to Redemption

    This week’s double parsha of Bihar and Bechukotai begins with shemitah, the commandment to let the land lay fallow every seven years.   One of the purposes of this mitzvah is for us to realize that we are not in charge.  We do not make the rain fall or the crops grow, nor did we…

  • The Tension of Sinai and Shmita

    This week’s double Torah portion of Bihar and Bichukoti begins, “And G-d spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai saying, speak to the Children of Israel and say to them, when you enter the land which I am giving you the land must rest a Sabbath to G-d…six years you shall plant….and the seventh year shall…

  • The Danger of Autonomy: Balancing Work and Spiritual Purpose in the Land

    This week’s Torah portion, Bichukoti, outlines the national blessings that the Jewish people will enjoy if they observe God’s commandments and the curses that will afflict them if they do not.   The blessings promise proper rain, crop growth and national security, whereas the potential curses depict the converse. The Jewish people at this point…