Words From Rabbi White - Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal

KI TISSA' / PARAH 5786

03/05/2026 05:46:28 PM

Mar5

LIVING IN INTERESTING TIMES

Wishing someone to live in “interesting times” is supposed to be an old Chinese curse, although there is some doubt about that. Yet certainly, this past Purim has certainly been in a unique historical time, as Israel had to...Read more...

TETSAVVEH / ZACHOR 5786

02/27/2026 10:53:32 AM

Feb27

This Shabbat, we take out a second Torah, and read from there the passage concerning Amalek: the nation that tried to destroy us, and we are commanded to obliterate their name.

TERUMAH 5786

02/20/2026 09:42:04 AM

Feb20

Note: this article is being written on Wednesday morning. Hopefully, by the time you read it, the following story will have come to a positive outcome:

For...Read more...

MISHPATIM 5786

02/13/2026 10:28:22 AM

Feb13

BEWARE OF ICE

In Montreal, I often attached “crampons,” cleats, to my shoes, to protect against ice on the ground. Here in USA, illegal immigrants are afraid of another kind of ICE (stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency of the...Read more...

YITRO 5786

02/06/2026 11:19:30 AM

Feb6

“MAY HE MAKE PEACE UPON US, AND UPON ALL ISRAEL”

We all pray all the time for peace: for us, for the world, and for Israel. Yet, as Robert Zimmerman (aka Bob Dylan) wrote and sang so well, most of the world seems to treat us as the “neighbourhood...Read more...

BE-SHALACH 5786

01/30/2026 10:12:06 AM

Jan30

The great news this past week has been the return of the body of Ran Gvili for proper Jewish burial. Of course, one might ask: what’s the big deal, he was not returned alive!

BO' 5786

01/22/2026 03:26:20 PM

Jan22

In this parasha, we learn of the last 3 of the 10 plagues: “arbeh,” “hoshekh,” and “bekhorot,” i.e., locusts, darkness, and first born.

The...Read more...

VA'EIRA' 5786

01/16/2026 10:46:56 AM

Jan16

MOSHE’S BIG BROTHER. WAS THERE JEALOUSY?

Aharon was three years older than Moshe. Was Aharon jealous of his younger brother’s status?

Let’s look at some...Read more...

SHEMOT 5786

01/09/2026 10:41:13 AM

Jan9

DON’T WE KNOW WHO THEY ARE ALREADY!

The Book of Shemot (Exodus) begins with the list of the names of the sons of Jacob. Don’t we know their names already, from the Book of Genesis? Isn’t that tautologous? (I learned that word back in high school, when...Read more...

VA-YECHI 5786

01/02/2026 09:48:12 AM

Jan2

VA-YECHI 5786

BUT DIDN’T WE SAY LAST WEEK?…

Last week,...Read more...

VA-YIGGASH 5786

12/26/2025 01:06:34 PM

Dec26

WHY DIDN’T YOSEPH CALL HOME?

When I was young, and first heard the story of Yoseph, right away I wondered why, after having attained status in Egypt,...Read more...

MIQUETS 5786

12/19/2025 10:19:53 AM

Dec19

HOW COME HANUKKAH IS NOT JUST 7 DAYS?

An old question, with many answers: since there was enough oil for 1 day, and it lasted for 8, so the miracle was only for the additional 7 days. N’est-pas???

VA-YEISHEV 5786

12/12/2025 11:18:22 AM

Dec12

SIDDUR, HANUKKAH, AND OCT 7

Dear friends,

VA-YISHLACH 5786

12/05/2025 10:18:02 AM

Dec5

DID YAAKOV HAVE A LONG SPOON? (follow up on last week’s “blog:” “he who sups with the devil”)

Finally, Yaakov, accompanied by wives and children, is on his way home, after 20 years with the trickster Lavan. (According to a rabbinic tradition, he...Read more...