The Heart of the Matter1  A D’var Torah for Parashat Eikev by Rabbi Greg Schindler (2009) In this week’s D'var Torah, Rabbi Greg Schindler digs deep to see if there is a central lesson hidden in our Parashah. If you are a frequent reader of Divrei Torah, then you are probably familiar with some of the great Torah commentators: Rashi, Ramban, Ibn Ezra and many others have helped generations to better understand the weekly parashah. But what if I told you that there was a Torah commentator even more ancient than these great scholars, older even than the Talmud? And more “plugged in” than any of them. Well, there is such a commentator, and it has been hiding in plain sight for millennia. That commentator is the Torah itself2. No, this does Read More >

A D’var Torah for Parashat Vaethanan by Rabbi Marge Wise (AJR ‘21) Shalom Hevre, The haftarah following the Torah reading of Parashat Vaethanan opens with the words Nahamu nahamu ami, the quintessential recipe for comfort for b'nei yisrael following the saddest day of the year for our people, Tisha B'Av. I would like to discuss three themes which I believe are woven into the fabric of parashat Vaethanan: Our love for God, gratitude and the concept of comfort, itself. Tisha B'Av, for me, always brings to mind a significant memory. Curiously, this year for the first time I was able to reach some closure regarding that memory…. It was early in the afternoon of Tisha B'Av when, decades ago, my husband and I and our two children - both under two years old at the time! - headed out on Read More >

Words of Questioning and Lamenting A D’var Torah for Parashat Devarim By Rabbi Susan Elkodsi (AJR '15) HaZaL, our Sages of Blessed Memory, knew exactly what they were doing when they manipulated the weekly Torah reading schedule to make sure that Parashat Devarim would be read on the Shabbat immediately preceding Tisha B’Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. Tisha B’Av is a day of collective national mourning for a time, place, and way of life that no longer exist. Devarim, Moses’ final address to the Israelites during the last month of his life is similar; by looking back on what has transpired over 40 years, he is lamenting missed opportunities on an often frustrating journey and mourning the loss of a future he won’t be physically part of. The Read More >

Reuben, Gad, and the Tension Between Place and Purpose A D’var Torah for Parshiyot Mattot-Masei By Hazzan Rabbi Luis Cattan (AJR '20) When Natan Sharansky was Chairman of the Jewish Agency, I had the privilege of sitting with him and a small group of global Jewish leaders to discuss Jewish identity. In that conversation, he shared a metaphor that has stayed with me ever since. He spoke of the pain of living under Soviet rule—of the repression, the fear, and the impossibility of making aliyah. But then he added, “More than the Iron Curtain once prevented Soviet Jews from making aliyah, today it is the Golden Curtain that prevents American Jews.” In other words, it’s not external oppression that distances many Jews from Israel—it’s comfort. Affluence, freedom, and Read More >