וְיֵעָשׂוּ כֻלָּם אֲגֻדָּה אֶחָת לַעֲשׂוֹת רְצוֹנְךָ בְּלֵבָב שָׁלֵם

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

וְיֵעָשׂוּ כֻלָּם אֲגֻדָּה אֶחָת לַעֲשׂוֹת רְצוֹנְךָ בְּלֵבָב שָׁלֵם

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

24 07, 2023

Parashat Vaethanan 5783

By |2023-08-10T15:34:49-04:00July 24, 2023|

This week’s Shabbat bears a special name, "Shabbat Nahamu” – the Shabbat of Comfort. Shabbat Nahamu comes on the heels of the saddest day on the Jewish calendar -- Tisha b’Av. This is the day on which both Temples were destroyed. Moreover, other catastrophes fell on this date – the day Bar Kokhba (the leader of the revolt against the Romans) was killed in 133 C.E., the day in 1290 when the Jews were expelled from England, the day in 1492 when the Jews were forced to convert or flee Spain. And, in 1914, the day on which World War I, and the horrors to follow, began. Tisha b’Av, the Rabbis say, is a day set aside for sorrows. And not only our national sorrows, but our personal ones as well. It makes you wonder why we don’t just curl up in a ball and stay under the covers every Tisha b’Av. But we don’t hide from our sadness; we re-live it. We sit on the ground, fast, recite Kinot (dirges) and read Eikha (Lamentations). We mourn. We embrace our sorrow. For it, too, is part of life.

17 07, 2023

Parashat Devarim 5783

By |2023-07-28T10:47:21-04:00July 17, 2023|

There’s a lot in our tradition that is difficult to accept.

One of the concepts that seems especially not to square with our lived experience is the theology of Divine reward and punishment. It’s hard to reconcile for me, for many in the Jewish community, and for many of the students I work with. The haftarah that we’ll read on this Shabbat Hazon sums it up well:

אִם־ תֹּאב֖וּ וּשְׁמַעְתֶּ֑ם ט֥וּב הָאָ֖רֶץ תֹּאכֵֽלוּ׃

וְאִם ־תְּמָאֲנ֖וּ וּמְרִיתֶ֑ם חֶ֣רֶב תְּאֻכְּל֔וּ כִּ֛י פִּ֥י יְ-הֹוָ֖ה דִּבֵּֽר

If you are willing and obey, you will eat the best of the land.

But if you refuse and disobey, you will be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of G-d spoke. (Isaiah 1:19-20)

This is just not true. It’s hard to imagine, frankly, that it was ever true. But in the decades after the Holocaust, it seems especially impossible to believe. Worse, it’s offensive. Because the argument for it to be true would be that Read More >

6 10, 2022

Parashat Ha’azinu – 5783

By |2022-11-09T14:51:29-05:00October 6, 2022|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Ha’azinu
By Rabbi Matthew Goldstone

Our parasha this week begins with calling heaven and earth as witnesses (see Deut. 31:28) as Moses sings his final song to the people. The natural imagery continues as Moses compares his words to rain and dew, and refers to God as the Rock (צור). This past week many of us have had rains on our mind as Hurricane Ian ravaged portions of Florida. Within the biblical theology of our parasha, such natural disasters are understood as an expression of divine displeasure at our sinful actions (e.g., Deut. 32:18-24). For many modern inheritors of the Hebrew Bible, however, such a theology no longer resonates and can even be offensive – particularly when employed as a weapon by religious extremists. So what meaning can we draw from our parasha’s conception Read More >

29 09, 2022

Parashat Vayeilekh – 5782

By |2022-11-09T14:51:44-05:00September 29, 2022|

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayeilekh
By Rabbi Matthew Goldstone

This past week thousands of Jews gathered in person and online to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. We now find ourselves in the midst of עשרת ימי תשובה, the 10 days of repentance leading up to Yom Kippur. Yet, even during this week between the Yamim Noraim we continue with our regular Torah reading cycle. This week of Shabbat Shuvah we read the short parashah of Vayeilekh in which Moses announces to the Israelites that he has reached 120 years of age and will no longer lead the Israelites forward.

At this time in our Jewish calendar of sacred gatherings, I would like to explore three instances in our parashah in which all of the Israelites gather together. At the very outset of the portion, Moses speaks to “all of Israel” and encourages them to be strong and resolute (חזקו ואמצו;  Read More >

22 09, 2022

Parashat Nitzavim – 5782

By |2022-11-09T14:51:56-05:00September 22, 2022|

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Nitzavim
By Rabbi Doug Alpert

Growing up I always looked forward to an excerpt in the Siddur on Shabbos morning immediately following Ein Keiloheinu toward the end of Musaf. It is taken from Talmud Bavli, Berakhot 64a, “Rabbi Eleazar said in the name of Rabbi Hanina: Students of Torah increase peace in the world…” (emphasis added). I am not sure what it was about this sugya of Talmud that I found so alluring; possibly that in conjunction with Ein Keiloheinu I found it to be a particularly affirming moment toward the end of a long morning of praying, or perhaps it was the mere fact that we were in the homestretch of our service, and Kiddush lunch was around the corner.

Whatever feelings elicited from the passage resonated for me in my youth, it has taken on even Read More >

15 09, 2022

Parashat Ki Tavo – 5782

By |2022-11-09T14:52:06-05:00September 15, 2022|

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Ki Tavo
By Rabbi Jeffrey Segelman

Parashat Ki Tavo begins with two mitzvot which are declarations. The first is that of Bikkurim – the first fruits. This declaration is very familiar to us as it forms the basis of the Maggid section of the seder (Arami Oveid Avi… (Deut 26:5-10). The rabbis call this statement “mikra bikkurim” – “the declaration of the first fruits”.

The second declaration concerns the end of the three year cycle of tithes. In short, all the tithes of the cycle had to be properly distributed during three years. On the last day after each three year cycle, a declaration at the Temple was made. Here is that declaration:

I have removed the holy things (tithes) from my house, and I have also given it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the Read More >

9 09, 2022

Parashat Ki Teitzei – 5782

By |2022-11-09T14:52:21-05:00September 9, 2022|

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The Value Of Life
A D’var Torah for Parashat Ki Teitzei
By Rabbi Jill Hackell (’13)

This week’s parashah, Ki Teitzei, is filled with a wide variety of mitzvot. It contains, perhaps, the most laws of any other parashah in the Torah. I’d like to focus on two of them. The first is as follows:

“If you see your fellow’s ox or sheep gone astray, do not ignore it; you must take it back to your fellow. If your fellow does not live near you or you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home and it shall remain with you until your fellow claims it; then you shall return it to him. You shall do the same with his donkey; you shall do the same with his garment; and so too Read More >

1 09, 2022

Parashat Shofetim 5782

By |2022-11-09T14:52:34-05:00September 1, 2022|

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Idols of Our Own Making
A D’var Torah for Parashat Shofetim
By Rabbi Matthew Goldstone

Our parasha this week begins with a call to justice – we must establish reliable judges who will judge with integrity and we ourselves must actively pursue justice. Immediately following this charge, the portion switches to a prohibition against setting up idolatrous objects of wood or stone. The next chapter (Deut. 17) continues to interweave discussions of avoiding idolatry through the worship of celestial objects with legal justice – that capital punishment shall only be enacted on the basis of the testimony of multiple witness and that difficult cases should be brought to the appointed judges of the day. The extended connection between avoiding idolatry and the pursuit of justice reinforces their antipodal orientations. Idolatry leads us away from truth and justice.

But the nature and manifestations of Read More >

25 08, 2022

Parashat Re’eh 5782

By |2022-11-09T14:52:46-05:00August 25, 2022|

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Re’eh
By Rabbi Enid Lader (’10)

Our Torah portion this week is Re’eh – Deut. 11:26-16:17In chapter 15, Moses continues to speak to the people about what to expect as they come into the new land. “There shall be no needy among you – since the Eternal your God will bless you in the land that the Eternal your God is giving you as an inheritance – if only you will heed the Eternal your God and keep all this Instruction that I enjoin upon you this day.” (15:4-5) Here’s the thing… If you play by the rules, there will be plenty for all. That makes sense. We know that there certainly are ways we can treat each other and care for (and about) each other that Read More >

18 08, 2022

Parashat Eikev 5782

By |2022-11-09T14:53:00-05:00August 18, 2022|

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Of Bread and Potential
A D’var Toraj for Parashat Eikev
By Rabbi Katy Allen (’05)

The grass dries out in the heat–
it’s brown now.
Flowering plants, and even shrubs,
are wilting,
their leaves dull and stiff,
the bright blue of the sky
day after day
broken only
by occasional fair-weather clouds,
as the temperatures soar
and relief doesn’t come.

Here in my yard,

the visible life and death question is
focused on plants,
and perhaps some pollinators
or creepy crawlers in the soil
(though the bunnies and woodchucks no longer graze outside my window,
and I’m wondering where and what they are munching instead).
Elsewhere, however,
earthlings
are dying.

Humans cannot live by bread alone, (Deuteronomy 8:3)

our Torah text tells us,
and some rabbis say this means
we actually can live on less–
although I find it impossible to imagine no need for water.
The text also says
that humans can live on anything the Lord decrees,
and thus the manna from heaven was Read More >
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