Search results for: Parashat

By Eleanor B. Pearlman What motivates a person to go on a journey? I think of the push/pull theory of immigration: one leaves to escape intolerable discomfort and anticipates a better life somewhere else. Such departures involve pain in the present and hope for the future. At a certain point in life one may leave Read More >

A first or even a second reading of the text of Parashat Tetzaveh doesn’t begin to reveal the nuances, the implications, the messages of what might otherwise sound like elaborate but formulaic instructions for how to light the lights and for how to dress the priests. Instead, we can learn so much from the choice of words and from the message behind the words which inform our lives to the present day. Reflecting on God’s instructions to us as we struggled to become a nation was a learning curve - then and now.

By Boaz Marmon At first glance, we probably think of Parashat Bo, as a "middle." It tells the middle of the Exodus story, beginning in the middle of the ten plagues and ending in the middle of the escape from Egypt. Perhaps, on second thought, it's a tale of "ends": the end of the plagues, Read More >

Parashat Bemidbar: Tribalism or Multitribalism? Rabbi Jill Hammer The first parashah in the Book of Numbers (or in Hebrew Bemidbar) makes a significant point of listing the census numbers of each tribe (adult males able to go to war) as well as the leaders of each tribe (hence the moniker Book of Numbers). The parashah Read More >

The Bitter and the Sweet A D’var Torah for Parashat Shemini By Rabbi Greg Schindler ('09) Most of us are familiar with the concept of a hyperlink. Case in point: hyperlink. When you click on a hyperlink, you begin a journey connecting the idea on the page to a related concept. Quite the innovation, right? Yes, indeed. The hyperlinks embedded in the Read More >

Parashat Vayikra By Susan Elkodsi Parashat Vayikra begins, "And the Lord called to Moses from the Tent of meeting," and told him to speak to the people about presenting offerings to God. Given its explicit and detailed instructions for these sacrifices, the book of Vayikra can be considered a handbook for how to be a Read More >

Parashat Tetzaveh: The Garments of the High Priest by Rabbi Jill Hammer Parashat Tetzaveh teaches us about the garments of the high priest who was to serve in the mishkan, the sanctuary: "These are the vestments they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a coat, a turban, and a sash." (Exodus 28:4) There Read More >

As I prepared to write a D’var Torah for parashat Vayehi – with my Tanakh, my research notes and my computer open in front of me, my thoughts kept going to the date later in the week of the yahrzeit of my husband, Rabbi Joseph H. Wise z”l. I looked it up and parashat Vayehi was read on the Shabbat following his passing which seemed to further connect the parashah and the yahrzeit.

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D'var Torah Making Space A D'var Torah for Parashat Pekudei By Rabbi Lizz Goldstein ('16) Some weeks feel like there is just so much ungodliness in the world; it’s hard to know where to even begin shining the light of Torah. I believe in the power of Torah, of Read More >

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D'var Torah A D'var Torah for Parashat Mikeitz By Rabbi Ira Dounn ('17) How is the arc of your own story bending right now? I think about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quote “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice” often, particularly when a desired Read More >