A D’var Torah for Parashat Bemidbar By Rabbi Susan Elkodsi (AJR '15) A few years ago, for Mother’s Day, my kids gave me a DNA-testing kit from Ancestry.com. Not surprisingly, the results came back as 99% Ashkenazi Jewish with 1% various other ethnicities, depending on some algorithm or something. It was fascinating to start receiving DNA matches, including my daughter (whew!), connecting with some long-lost relatives, and learning about some distant ones whom I never knew existed. I get as far back as my great-grandparents, and then the history appears to end. My husband, whose father was part of the Egyptian Karaite community, has information going back 12 or 13 generations because excellent records have been kept and kept up. Now imagine being an Israelite born into Egyptian Read More >

A Bible verse for the shelter’s door A D’var Torah for Parshiyot Behar-Behukotai By Rabbi Robert Scheinberg Rookie rabbi mistakes, chapter 1: One week after my arrival to my first full-time congregation that I served as a rabbi, at age 27, I was invited to a meeting of our local clergy coalition, and I met the director of the local homeless shelter. My synagogue had been one of the organizations that founded the shelter several years before. The shelter’s director, a wise, courageous, and gregarious nun named Sister Norberta who had led the effort to found the shelter despite local government opposition, warmly welcomed me and quickly told me that she had a special job for me. They were doing a renovation of the shelter and wanted to commission some Read More >

A D’var Torah for Parashat Emor By Rabbi Gerry L. Ginsburg There is a paradox in the commandment to light the Menorah in the mishkan, the portable sanctuary in the wilderness which appears in Parashat Emor. The flames of the Menorah were not there to give off light. The mishkan was fully constructed and operational, the first korbanot, sacrifices, were already completed favorably, when the commandment comes to tell the Levites, specifically Aaron, to light the Menorah daily. The light of the Menorah will emanate from pure, clear olive oil, unlike that used for any other function. God talked to Moses about lighting the Menorah and specifically directed Aaron to supervise. צַ֞ו אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל וְיִקְח֨וּ אֵלֶ֜יךָ שֶׁ֣מֶן זַ֥יִת זָ֛ךְ כָּתִ֖ית לַמָּא֑וֹר לְהַעֲלֹ֥ת נֵ֖ר תָּמִֽיד׃ Command the Israelite people to bring you clear oil of beaten olives Read More >

May the Force Be with You A D’var Torah for Parshiyot Aharei Mot - Kedoshim By Rabbi Enid C. Lader (AJR '10) “The Eternal One spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them – You shall be holy, for I, the Eternal your God, am holy.” (Lev. 19:1-2) How would you define “holy”? What does it mean to “BE holy”? These are questions I asked Gavriel as we prepared for his becoming a bar mitzvah last year. Upon hearing my questions, he looked at me with a blank expression, but I could tell that he was thinking… and thinking… and hesitantly answered, “Religious?” Years ago, I had learned about and then taught other Jewish educators and teachers about Interactive Family Homework; this seemed like Read More >