A D’var Torah for Parashat Naso By Rabbi Scott “Shalom” Klein Parashat Naso opens with the command "Naso et rosh"—to "lift the head" of the sons of Gershon (Numbers 4:22). While the text begins with a census of those carrying the physical burdens of the Sanctuary, it culminates in the Birkat Kohanim, the Priestly Blessing, which provides the spiritual "lifting" for the entire nation. This transition from the labor of the Levites to the grace of the Kohanim offers a masterclass in leadership: the sustainability of any mission depends on a leader's ability to not only manage the logistics of the "heavy lift" but to actively invoke a culture of protection, clarity, and peace. The Sfat Emet (Sfat Emet, Naso 1) explains that "lifting the Read More >

A D’var Torah for Parashat Bemidbar By Rabba Kaya Stern-Kaufman Just two months ago I lost my soul mate, my beloved husband, to cancer. He was the love of my life.  My world has turned upside down. I find myself in an unrecognizable terrain, a wilderness  with no clear reference points. He was my compass and my North Star. Yet, despite my personal loss, I am fairly certain that this feeling of disorientation is not unique to me. We are all experiencing such rapid societal changes, both domestically and internationally, that many of us  are falling into despair, grief, fear, and disorientation. Norms, structures and societal agreements that held us together, that championed the good of all, over individual greed and gain, seem to have Read More >

A D’var Torah for Parshiyot Behar-Behukotai By Rabbi Inna Serebro-Litvak Last month I was trying to make plans to meet with friends for dinner. We kept going through our calendars in search of a convenient day. Twice we actually thought we had found a date that would work for us all but then someone would remember another event that was already scheduled for that date and we would have to start all over again. Finally, we settled on getting together on June 13, which was two months away from the time we started figuring it out! We all have such busy calendars that we almost never have a chance to experience the spontaneity of just calling someone and getting together that same day. These days Read More >

The Meaning of a Mitzvah A D’var Torah for Parashat Emor By Rabbi Wendy Love Anderson What’s the point of a mitzvah? For most people, a mitzvah is fundamentally something you do, whether you are visiting the sick or donating tzedakah, praying the Shema or eating matzah on Pesah. When you hear about a twelve-year-old’s “mitzvah project” or celebrate “Mitzvah Day” at a local synagogue or refer to Chabad’s “mitzvah tanks,” the presumption is that a mitzvah is a clearly defined action, which can be encouraged through donation drives, activity fairs, or vehicles equipped with ritual accessories.  You can decide to “do” a mitzvah; you can finish it; you can make lists of mitzvot and check them off. In fact, a number of distinctively Jewish Read More >