June 30, 2023 This week in Torah (a double Torah portion of Chukat-Balak) we find our Israelite ancestors in the final leg of their 40 year wilderness journey – at the threshold of the Promised Land. There are still obstacles to overcome and battles to fight, but the end of this treacherous journey is in …
June 23, 2023 “NO WAY!” This was the response I got while working with a Bar Mitzvah student on his d’var Torah for this weeks’ portion, Parshat Korach, when he realized just how wild this story is… Here’s the short version: Korach, a cousin of Moses and Aaron, essentially attempts an insurrection, claiming that he and …
June 16, 2023 This week’s Torah portion, Sh’lach L’cha, gives us the story of the 12 spies sent by Moses at God’s command to scout out the promised land. Ten of them return with a report based on fear and lack of self-confidence. Though it is a beautiful land flowing with milk and honey, they …
June 9, 2023 Being the first in anything comes with its blessings and its challenges. This is something about which Barack Obama, as the first person of color to serve as President of the United States, knows all too well. Everyone from journalists to media pundits to social media commentators to other politicians have a …
June 2, 2023 What would you do, what would you give up, to save the life of someone you love? In reality, the question is, for better or worse, a non-starter. Even in our darkest hours, knowing the worst will come, despite our best efforts to bargain and plead, there is not much we can …
May 25, 2023 This year, the reading of the Torah portion of Naso, in which we find the words of what is known as the Priestly Blessing (Birkat Kohanim) or the Threefold Blessing (Numbers 6:24-26), coincides with Memorial Day Weekend. The blessing reads: Y’var-ekh’cha A-do-nai v’yish’m’recha: Ya-eir A-do-nai pa-nav ei-ley-cha vi-chu-nei-cha: Yi-sa A-do-nai pa-nav ei-le-cha v’ya-sem …
May 19, 2023 Shavuot, which means “weeks,” is the name of the festival which originated as an agricultural festival celebrating the beginning of the grain harvest, and became a celebration of Matan Torah -the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The biblical descriptions of the revelation of Torah to the Israelites are rich and dramatic, and …
May 12, 2023 You might have seen a headline in the news recently: Hebrew School Enrollment in U.S. Drops Sharply. It’s true. In the recent census completed by the Jewish Education Project, the research indicates that there are 45% less children enrolled in supplemental Jewish education settings since the last data point in 2008. Those are …
May 5, 2023 A few years back, I stumbled upon a little video entitled, “Against Empathy”. In it, Yale University professor and psychologist, Paul Bloom, talks about the premise of his 2016 book by the same name, which is as follows: we are taught to think that putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and feeling …
