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Torah Portion

July 2, 2009

Spare the Rod

Corporal punishment is one of the most controversial subjects in child rearing. We have seen too many examples of child abuse from overzealous and emotionally unstable parents. At the same time, many families see nothing wrong with an occasional potch in tuchis (slap on the derriere) as a legitimate form of discipline.

Featured

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Turn Enemies Into Friends

By Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater

We are once again at Korach, the story of the great rebellion, one of the most dramatic moments in the life of Moses and the people of Israel in the desert. From the Golden Calf, to countless cries of complaints and desires to return to Egypt, to the spies losing faith last week, Moses has not had an easy time as leader.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Speak Up

By Rabbi Lisa Edwards

I recently had the privilege of listening to Rabbi Arik Ascherman, an American-born Israeli rabbi who, often at great physical risk to himself, advocates for others through the organization Rabbis for Human Rights.

Latest

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Seeing the Light

By Rabbi Isaac Jeret

In a series of magnificent discourses on this week’s Torah portion and, more generally, upon the construction and dedication of the Tabernacle’s menorah, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, derived two interdependent perspectives on the Jewish people, from which we can derive similar approaches to understanding humanity.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Give Shalom a Chance

By Rabbi Daniel Bouskila

Someone would probably be labeled a hippie if he or she were to use the English word “peace” as a greeting or an expression when parting. Yet in Hebrew, the standard “hello” or “goodbye” is shalom (peace), and the word carries no modern cultural or political connotation.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Light the Fire

By Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

By Rabbi Haim Ovadia

Numbers, this is the English name of the Book of Bemidbar. Whoever chose the name must have been overwhelmed by the meticulous descriptions of the multiple censuses of the Israelites, the Levites and the firstborn.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Oneness at 30,000 Feet

By Rabbi Anne Brener

I am blessed with a window seat and a clear day as I fly to New York for my daughter’s college graduation.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

What It Takes

By Rabbi Debra Orenstein

This week’s Torah portion, Emor, sheds light on what it takes to be a leader.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Don’t Do Well — Do Good

By Rabbi Dov Fischer

This week’s Torah portion lays out a comprehensive array of divinely ordained commandments that define the range of Judaism’s unique values.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Old But New

By Rabbi Elazar Muskin

A number of years ago, when my two daughters were 8 and 6, we had the pleasure of spending a family summer vacation in Israel. We stayed at my mother-in-law’s home right near Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan. One day while eating breakfast we heard a truck pass outside with a loudspeaker making announcements. At first the words from the loudspeaker didn’t make any sense to us.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

What It Takes to Be a Jewish Leader

By Rabbi N. Daniel Korobkin

Charlton Heston (alav haShalom) made a great Moses; on screen, he seemed perfect — tall, handsome, gravelly voice, and not even Anne Baxter could seduce him.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Reclaiming Passover Priorities

By Rabbi Isaac Jeret

The Passover seder has evolved and changed throughout the ages. Many of us might not know that the “four questions” were originally “three questions,” and one of the three — preparation of the paschal lamb — is no longer asked.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Sacrifices Address Emotion of Guilt

by Rabbi Steven Weil

The theme of Parshat Tzav is korbanot, the animal sacrifices brought in the Tabernacle and, later, in the Temple.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Sacrifices and a Sliding Scale

By Rabbi Daniel Greyber

My wife met a pastor’s wife on a plane. Every few months now, we have Darren, an evangelical pastor, and his wife, Amy, over to our Shabbat lunch table.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Work of Your Hands

By Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Pick Up the Pieces

By Rabbi Daniel Bouskila

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Time to ReconsiderPurim’s Excesses

By Rabbi Dan Shevitz

Purim used to be all about carnival: makeup, masquerade, cheering the heroes (with whom we identified ourselves), booing the villains (who were obligingly already dead) and overindulging (which we hardly ever permitted at any other time). It has in more recent years become more problematic.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

OCDism

By Rabbi Haim Ovadia

Parshat Terumah (Exodus 25:1-27:19)

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Open Doors

By Rabbi Lisa Edwards

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Who’s Speaking, Please?

By Rabbi Debra Orenstein

“I am Adonai your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves” (Exodus 20:2).

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Listen to Our Enemy’s Cries

By Rabbi Laura Geller

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

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Hardening Hearts, Protecting Our Freedoms

By Rabbi Isaac Jeret

To the contemporary reader, the story of the ancient Israelites’ exodus from Egypt is every bit as compelling as it was to readers centuries ago.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Showing Up

By Rabbi Daniel Greyber

How am I a man of faith? There are things I cannot believe, times when I cannot say with certainty that life, or even God, is good. But I return to God, sometimes in anger and depression, sometimes just tired, but I return and I pray.