Rabbi Laura Geller

Blot out the memory

Published on March 1, 2012

Parashat Lech Lecha (Genesis 12:1-17:27)

Published on November 1, 2011

Last week’s Torah portion ends with a genealogy, a long list of names of who begot whom and how long they lived. It is one of many genealogies in the Torah. It used to be that when I encountered those lists, I tuned out; I found them boring. But then I read a book by Thomas Cahill called “The Gifts of the Jews” (Anchor, 1999).

Silence is consent: Parashat Matot (Numbers 30:2-32:42)

Published on July 19, 2011

I recently received an e-mail with the subject line “The Arab Mentality.” It described a Palestinian woman who had been badly burned and successfully treated in Israel, only to be arrested later for attempting to infiltrate Israel’s borders as a suicide bomber. The sender included the names of all those who had received the posting. My name was in the middle of the list.

Parashat Tzav (Leviticus 6:1-8:36

Published on March 15, 2011

In some prayer books, the opening verses of this week’s Torah portion serve as a preparation for prayer. The verses repeat over and over again that a perpetual fire shall continue to burn on the altar. Why the focus on the need to keep the fire burning? And what does it mean to us now, after the destruction of the Temple and the end of the sacrificial system, when there is no longer a literal fire?

Turn my mourning into dancing

Published on January 10, 2011

My first encounter with Debbie was in 1986 at the Simchat Chockmah ritual for becoming an elder she helped create and lead for the feminist Biblical scholar, her friend, Savina Teubal. Two moments in the ritual took my breath away. The first was in the middle of the ceremony, when Savina put on a kittel, the traditional burial shroud. Without words, that robing communicated the powerful truth that everything changes, and that although this new stage of Savina’s life would someday end with her death, she could continue to be a blessing.

Following in Maimonides’ Footsteps, Pursuing His Wisdom

Published on November 23, 2010

On a recent trip to Spain, Morocco and Israel called “In the Footsteps of Maimonides,” the members of our group from Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills were the honored guests at a reception at the residence of the American ambassador to Spain, which became the occasion for a gathering of many of Spain’s Jewish leaders.

Reading With Rashi Parashat Balak (Numbers 22:2-25:9)

Published on June 22, 2010

“Anyone who has never read the entire Chumash with Rashi is simply not Jewishly literate,” said Rabbi David Hartman, with whom I was studying 14 years ago at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. “It doesn’t matter whether you read it in Hebrew or English, but you must go through the Five Books of Moses with Rashi’s commentary.”

Making Prayer Real

Published on March 16, 2010

This week’s portion begins a new book of the Bible, Leviticus. It is fascinating to look at the first and last words of each of the books of the Torah:

Genesis: When God began to create the heavens and the earth ... in a coffin in Egypt.

Exodus: These are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt ... throughout their journeys.

Leviticus: The Lord called out to Moses ... on Mount Sinai.

Numbers: In the wilderness of Sinai ... on the Jordan opposite Jericho.

Deuteronomy: These are the words which Moses spoke ... in the sight of all Israel.

Remember Light

Published on December 16, 2009

Miketz is almost always read during the week of Chanukah. Is this a coincidence of the calendar or is there something to learn from this juxtaposition?

Mystery in Creation

Published on October 14, 2009

Hebrew letters, when decoded, are magical. So it was especially powerful when my adult b’nai mitzvah Hebrew class was working on the letter Bet and opened the Torah to this week’s portion to find that it’s the first letter of Torah.

Joy Is Vital

Published on September 30, 2009

After two days of Rosh Hashanah and a very long day on Yom Kippur, you’d think that Jews would be exhausted. Isn’t it enough already?

Acknowledging the Pinchas Within

Published on July 8, 2009

Last week we began the story of Pinchas, grandson of Aaron and great-nephew of Moses. Pinchas saw Zimri, a Jewish leader, and Cozbi, a Midianite princess, engage in a public display of immorality connected to the idol worship of the Midianites.

Listen to Our Enemy’s Cries

Published on February 4, 2009

One of the real pleasures of my work as a rabbi is that I get to spend time with the children in our schools.

Reflections on an Impossible Age

Published on September 11, 2003

Thirteen is a difficult age. I know this as a parent, and I also know it as a rabbi who interacts with lots of 13-year-olds. I know this as well as a student of Torah. And now I know it as a moviegoer.

God’s Belongings

Published on May 15, 2003

This week's Torah portion is called "Behar" because it begins "The Lord spoke to Moses behar (on Mount [Sinai]). Upon reflection, something seems out of order. We left Mount Sinai in the Book of Exodus.

One Community

Published on February 27, 2003

Our Torah study was enriched by a day in Tel Aviv where we visited some of the projects supported by The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles' Tel Aviv-Los Angeles Partnership, including the Shevach Mofet School, a high school in which the majority of the students are immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

Serah’s Legend

Published on December 12, 2002

For many of us, this season is marked by being with families and sharing our family stories. In the Torah cycle it is the time of the year that we read the powerful story of a family of brothers, a story about forgiveness and reconciliation. Buried in this story about brothers is a one-line mystery about a sister.

After Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers, he sends wagons to bring his father, Jacob, to Egypt so Joseph can take care of him. The text tells us: "Then Jacob and all his offspring came to Egypt. He brought with him his sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters -- all his offspring. And these are the names of the children of Israel, Jacob and his descendants, who came to Egypt" (Genesis 46:6-7). What follows is a very long list of men mostly, except for Jacob's daughter, Dinah, and one granddaughter: "And the sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah, and their sister Serah" (Genesis 46:17).

The Sacred Narrative

Published on August 22, 2002

This summer, I had a reunion with female cousins who are all my age. We live all around the country, so we hardly ever see each other.

In Times of Sorrow

Published on October 23, 1997

"I am sure," said Sinai Temple's Rabbi DavidWolpe in his Rosh Hashanah sermon, "that in almost every pulpit inAmerica from whatever denomination rabbis are speaking about theterrible strife we are enduring -- Jew against Jew, as well as Jewagainst Arab -- in the Land of Israel."

The Torah of Our Lives

Published on October 9, 1997

In Leviticus, male sexual relations are considered an abomination,punishable by death. "A man shall not be with another man as if with a woman. It is an abomination," reads one passage. But, as with all things biblical and Jewish, the Torah passages are open to interpretation. And interpret they did last week at University Synagogue at a panel discussion on Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist views on homosexuality and bisexuality.