Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The Rabbis' Priestly Robes
By Rabbi Haim Ovadia
“Of the blue, purple and crimson yarns they also made the service vestments for officiating in the sanctuary ... they hammered out sheets of gold . . .
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Second Soul: Parashat Ki Tisa (Exodus)
by Rabbi Adam Kligfeld
There is a mystical tradition that states that a Jew gains a neshamah y’teyrah, an extra soul, on Shabbat. For those 25 hours, we are doubly . . .
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Heart's Ordination
By Rabbi Anne Brener
I think of myself as a premature elder. I was initiated into an involuntary priesthood at a young age. Life presented me with a set of mandates that . . .
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Inspired Giving
By Rabbi Isaac Jeret
People in need of assistance have approached me over the past 18 months in numbers I have not seen before in my service as a rabbi. The economic . . .
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Body and Soul
By Rabbi Daniel Greyber
To many people I don’t look like a rabbi. One reason, I suspect, is that I’m athletic. I swam in the 1993 Maccabiah Games and am currently . . .
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
True Ten
By Rabbi Daniel Bouskila
How many commandments are there in the Torah? To most people the answer is simple: 10.
True, there are those who know the Torah contains 613 . . .
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Warrior Spirit
By Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater
As someone who is uncomfortable with war as a way of solving problems, I always search deep inside myself during the week of Parashat Beshalach, in . . .
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Unsung Heroes
By Rabbi Lisa Edwards
Miep Gies died this month, weeks shy of her 101st birthday. Gies worked for Otto Frank’s Amsterdam pectin company and was the main caretaker of the . . .
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Magic or Miracle?
By Rabbi Debra Orenstein
If God were to send you on a mission to confront a despot, win the trust of his slaves and lead them in an escape to freedom, you might want a few . . .
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Women of Justice
By Rabbi Haim Ovadia
The Exodus was made possible because of the merits of the righteous women, say our sages. Some interpret this statement as a patronizing approach to . . .
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Israel’s swine flu death toll reachs 80
JTA
The number of Israelis who have died with swine flu hit . . .
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Joseph's Tears
By Rabbi N. Daniel Korobkin
Joseph had a hard life. His own brothers sold him as a slave. He was libeled by his master, thrown in a horrible prison and forced to live far away . . .
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
The Big Reveal
By Rabbi Dov Fischer
After the Golden Calf, Moshe prays to God, begging forgiveness. In the course of his prophetic dialogue with the Creator, Moshe asks to see God’s . . .
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Remember Light
By Rabbi Laura Geller
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 . . .
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Harlot as Hero
By Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky
Back in grade school, the story of Yehuda and Tamar was always deemed too racy to teach. Our teacher skipped that one episode, and looking back . . .
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Esau’s Kiss
By Rabbi Lisa Edwards
After their grandfather died, a friend and her brother sat with an attorney. . . .
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Listen, Will You?
By Rabbi Haim Ovadia
You are driving, looking for an address, when your wife tells you to ask someone. You refuse, but you finally make it to your destination — two . . .
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
‘Why This Me?’
By Rabbi Daniel Greyber
During my first summer at Camp Ramah it became necessary to dismiss a camper. We sat on my porch together, and he started to shake and cry after I . . .
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
A Holiday for Cheshvan
By Rabbi Anne Brener
“And Abraham expired, and died at a good old age.... His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah ... and Isaac settled near . . .
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Truth and Consequences
By Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater
“Just tell the truth. If you tell the truth, nothing bad will happen to you.” I heard that a lot as a kid. That was code for “you won’t get . . .
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Key to Peace
By Rabbi Isaac Jeret
In most instances, families relocate due to a measure of dissatisfaction with where they live currently and a degree of hope for where they might . . .
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
The Naked Truth
By Rabbi Dov Fischer
Noah, the complete, righteous soul of his generation, gets himself good and drunk after the flood experience has passed. He has planted a vineyard, . . .
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Mystery in Creation
By Rabbi Laura Geller
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 . . .
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
What Are You Learning?
By Rabbi Daniel Bouskila
Nine years ago, while attending the United Jewish Communities’ General Assembly (GA) in Chicago, I had the privilege and pleasure of hearing . . .
