VAYISHLACH 5784
12/01/2023 11:47:14 AM
After twenty years in Babylon Yakov finally returns to Israel in this week’s Parsha. Life was not easy for him in Babylon but the challenges that he knew there pale in comparison to what he will contend with in the land that G!d swore to his forefathers. The most difficult aspect of the challenges is that they are never the ones that Yakov has prepared for.
The Parsha starts out...Read more...
VAYETZE 5784
11/24/2023 11:48:49 AM
With this week’s Parsha we enter into the second half of the book of Bereishit. Last week we finished with Yitzchak and for the rest of the book of Bereishit we are dealing with Yakov and his children. Our Parsha covers a twenty year period, all of it, except the first few days, take place in Babylon. Yakov starts off our Parsha poor and alone by the end he is the head of a great household with four wives,...Read more...
CHAYA SARAH 5784
11/10/2023 10:42:49 AM
We are now in the fifth Parsha of the Torah and it is… unremarkable. For the last four weeks we were treated to some of the most amazing moments of history and heard the voice of G!d. This week, we have a funeral, an engagement and silence from G!d. While the events that take place in our Parsha are of great historical relevance, Avraham comes to possess the first property owned by the Children of Israel in the...Read more...
VAYIERA 5784
11/03/2023 01:10:09 PM
This week is our second Parsha with Avraham and Sarah and effectively our last. Avraham and Sarah are both in next week’s Parsha, but they play minor roles as we transition to the second generation of our nation. Last week we saw Avraham doing everything he could to ensure himself a future. The theme of this week’s Parsha is the various paths that Avraham finds to that future, namely children. Our children are...Read more...
LECH LECHA 5784
10/27/2023 12:20:55 PM
Two weeks ago the world began, last week civilization began, this week is the beginning of the Children of Israel. This week’s Parsha is dedicated exclusively to Avraham and Sarah, the first Jewish family. This week’s Parsha covers a span of twenty-four years. Throughout the whole Parsha Sarah and Avraham remain the only Jews. They have a huge household full of men and women, Avraham even has a son, but no one...Read more...
NOACH 5784
10/20/2023 12:23:11 PM
We are only a week into the Torah and already things aren’t going well. At the end of last week’s Parsha G!d already regretted making man, declaring that “all the thoughts and creations of his heart are nothing but daily evil.” The only ray of light is Noach. Noach finds favor in G!d’s eyes. The world is full of violence, bloodshed, and sexual immorality and yet there is Noach who can divine a...Read more...
BERESHIT 5784
10/13/2023 01:26:55 PM
This week’s Parsha is the most mysterious of the Torah. It reveals as much as it conceals. The creation of the world is the most mystical and engaging part of the Torah. The Midrash tells us a secret about the relationship between our world and the Torah. “Thus, the Holy One, blessed be He, consulted the Torah when he created the world” (Bereshit Rabbah, I:2). The Torah is the blueprint for the world, it was...Read more...
Simchat Torah 5784
10/06/2023 10:53:29 AM
Simchat Torah is different from other Chagim in many ways: Its name does not appear in the Torah, Yizkor is held on the first and not second day of the Chag and most importantly its Torah reading is unique to Simchat Torah. Every Holiday was assigned a special section from the Torah that we read during the morning prayer service. The section of the Torah that we read for every other holiday besides Simchat Torah is...Read more...
Sukkot 5784
09/29/2023 10:21:48 AM
Hag Sameach!
I love Sukkot, I love building the Sukkah, eating in the Sukkah, waving the Lulav and Etrog and just being in the Sukkah. The Torah tells us that on Sukkot we will have an extra measure of joy, but even without the Torah I would know that this is a special time of happiness. The Gemara compares this time of year to the birth of a new child. Rosh Hashanah, the...Read more...
PARASHAT HAAZINU
09/22/2023 12:07:28 PM
Haazinu is a small and impenetrable Parsha, like a black hole. I have different Chumashim strewn all over my living room. For each verse I must reference different commentators and translations in order to understand the literal meaning of the verse. Words appear here in forms that are rarely seen anywhere in the Torah. Rashi has to offer multiple explanations of the meaning of many words ostensibly because he...Read more...
Rosh Hashanah 5784
09/14/2023 02:10:26 PM
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, is nearly upon us. We are all busy preparing for festive meals with our families and (too) many hours in the synagogue. What is the actual significance of this day, what should we feel and how should we properly prepare for this day?
The Babylonian Talmud states: Three books are opened on Rosh Hashanah: one for the completely wicked, one...Read more...
Nitzavim-Vayeilekh 5783
09/08/2023 11:57:18 AM
This week we have a double Parsha, Nitzavim and Vayelech. They are the eighth and ninth Parshiot in the book of Devarim, the final book of the Torah. The two Parshiot form a bridge connecting two thematically diverse parts of the book of Devarim. The first part of this week’s reading finishes the vision of the curses that will befall the Children of Israel in the land of Israel if we fail to live with joy...Read more...
Ki Tavo 5783
09/01/2023 12:11:48 PM
This week we are in the seventh Parsha in the final book of the Torah, Devarim. Devarim is Moshe’s final address to the Children of Israel before they enter the land of Israel and Moshe dies. Seven represents divine unity in our tradition, seven days of creation, seven years of the Shmita cycle. This week’s Parsha brings completion and closure to the second part of Devarim, in which Moshe describes what life...Read more...
Ki Tetse 5783
08/25/2023 02:04:18 PM
This week’s Parsha is the sixth Parsha in the book of Devarim, the final book of the Torah. Moshe continues to prepare us for life without him in the land of Israel by illustrating the successes and challenges that we will meet there and reminding us of the commandments that will be incumbent upon us there. One of the main subjects of this week’s Parsha is how the nation wages war, what is permitted and what is...Read more...
Shoftim 5783
08/17/2023 11:42:21 AM
Shoftim is the fifth Parsha in the book of Devarim. It is the second Parsha in which Moshe lays out his vision for what life will look like for the Children of Israel in the land of Israel. This week’s Parsha reminds me of the books I used to read as a child that described how ideal cities work. Each member of society provides service and products that they exchange harmoniously with other members of their...Read more...
Reeh 5783
08/10/2023 02:15:55 PM
This week’s Parsha, Reeh, is different from the three Parshiot that preceded it in the book of Devarim. In the last three Parshiot Moshe told us the story of the Children of Israel, our successes and occasional setbacks were all recalled in order that we learn from the past and find inspiration to keep achieving. This week our vision changes focus and Moshe starts talking about the future. We now shift our focus...Read more...
Ekev 5783
08/04/2023 11:26:54 AM
We are now in the third Parsha of the Divarim, the final book of the Torah. This is the third and final Parsha in which Moshe tells the story of Israel to the Children of Israel. In each of the three Parshiot Moshe speaks specifically about three events that had a major impact on the Children of Israel. The first week Moshe recalls the sin of the spies, the second week he retells the Ten Commandments and revelation...Read more...
Va'etchanan 5783
07/28/2023 12:23:24 PM
This week we read the second section in the book of Devarim and continue Moshe’s telling of the story of Israel. The Parsha is a direct address from Moshe, with some of the most memorable prose of the whole Torah:
.וְאַתֶּם֙ הַדְּבֵקִ֔ים בַּי-הֹ-וָ֖-ה אֱ-לֹהֵיכֶ֑ם חַיִּ֥ים כֻּלְּכֶ֖ם הַיּֽוֹם
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Devarim 5783
07/20/2023 12:33:56 PM
This week’s Parsha begins Devarim, the fifth and final book of the Torah. The quality and content of Devarim is wholly different than the rest of the Torah. Whereas the rest of the Torah was written by Moshe as dictation from G!d, in Devarim we hear Moshe’s own prophetic voice. It is a unique perspective that we have had limited access to, until now. Devarim is not a reporting of events as they happen but rather...Read more...
Matot - Masei 5783
07/11/2023 10:24:30 AM
This week we close the book of Bamidbar and bring to an end the wandering of the Children of Israel. The next and final book of the Torah, Devarim, is all words of advice and reprimand from Moshe; he tansmits them to us on the plains of Moab. Bamidbar is the hardest book of the Torah. The book of Bamidbar spans a thirty-eight-year period, yet the text only actually describes about six of those months. The only thing we know about the...Read more...
Pinchas 5783
07/06/2023 10:28:52 AM
The title of this week’s Parsha comes from the name of the hero of last week’s Parsha, Pinchas. Pinchas ended a plague that G!d had struck the children of Israel with by killing a couple named Cozbi and Zimri. Cozbi and Zimri were not married, in fact it seems that they had just met, they were engaging in extramarital sex and they made this fact known to all the...Read more...
Chukat-Balak 5783
06/30/2023 10:56:58 AM
This week’s Parsha starts with a jump forward thirty-eight years. The Children of Israel are now at the end of their sojourn in the desert. Between the end of last week’s Parsha and the beginning of this week’s Parsha what happened? G!d doesn’t bother to tell us. Instead, we are told about a nation that is now ready to enter the land of Israel all of the people condemned to die in the desert are gone and we...Read more...
Korach 5783
06/23/2023 01:35:15 PM
Korach is a well known Parsha due to its rich characters and dramatic events. On a literary level it is an absolutely essential part of the Torah, so much so that the Mishna places the pit that swallowed Korach and his conspirators on the list of the ten things that were created at sundown just before the end of creation. When viewed in context with the surrounding Parshiot however it seems superfluous. That is...Read more...
Shelach 5783
06/15/2023 03:54:20 PM
I met yesterday with a couple who first showed up in Poland in March 2022, in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They are refugees from the war, each with their own unique story and Jewish history. They have been active in the Ukraine refugee community and the Jewish community in Warsaw, playing an active role in connecting and activating the two of them. We spoke mostly about their future, and where they should seek...Read more...
Behalotcha 5783
06/08/2023 10:44:12 AM
We are now in the third Parsha of the book of Bamidbar. The last two Parshiot have been all over the place in terms of chronology and content. For two weeks we’ve had an eclectic mix of narrative and Mitzvot, slowly building to this week’s Parsha in which the Children of Israel start their triumphant journey to the promised land. Finally the young nation takes its first unsure steps and we fall flat on our face.
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Naso 5783
06/02/2023 09:00:16 AM
This week’s Parsha is a strange one. The Parsha starts with a division of the different parts of the Mishkan to the Levitic families to take charge of its dismantling, transport and reconstruction. The end of the Parsha is a list of sacrifices and gifts that the princes of each of the twelve tribes brought to the Mishkan on the days following its dedication. Spoiler alert, they are all the same. In between these two parts we...Read more...
Shavuot 5783
05/25/2023 09:54:42 AM
Shavuot is a strange sort of holiday. On Shavuot we celebrate G!d giving the Torah to the Children of Israel, but the written Torah was given to us only just before Moshe died; the Oral Torah is still being revealed. Further the Torah never actually connects Shavuot to the giving of the Torah. Shavuot has three names in the Torah: holiday of the weeks, holiday of harvesting and holiday of first fruits....Read more...
Dvar Torah - Bamidbar 5783
05/19/2023 12:00:00 PM
This week we start the fourth book of the Torah, Bamidbar. Bamidbar means in the wilderness, it describes both the geographical and psychological state of the newly formed Nation of Israel. Bamidbar is the most difficult book of the Torah to read because we are in the same place at the close of the book as we were at the beginning, in the wilderness. Bamidbar is first and foremost about the risk inherent in freedom. The wilderness is the...Read more...
Halakha - Behar Behukotai
05/12/2023 12:10:05 PM
This week’s Parsha, Behar, starts off by detailing the laws of Shmita. Shmita, the obligation to let the land of Israel lay fallow and uncultivated every seventh year, expresses our traditions' deep love for the land of Israel and all things that draw their sustenance from it. The Torah mentions it in four places, the Mishna and Jerusalem Talmud both have a Tractate dedicated to it. The Rambam deals extensively...Read more...
Dvar Torah - Behar Behukotai 5783
05/12/2023 12:00:00 PM
This week we finish Vayikra, the third book of the Torah, and not on the happiest note. This week’s double section is best known for its end, which is a list of forty-nine curses that are bound to befall Israel when we stray from the path of Torah, Mitzvot and an equitable society. The curses are horrible and though we do our best to read them as fast as possible, when it comes to thinking about the Parsha...Read more...