Divrei Torah Archives | Academy for Jewish Religion

14 08, 2026

Parashat Ki Teitzei – 5786

Marisa Amith2026-08-14T14:10:23-04:00

Just One Thing After Another

A D’var Torah for Parashat Ki Teitzei
By Rabbi Wendy Love Anderson

Like much of Deuteronomy, Parashat Ki Teitzei has no overarching narrative framework: it presents as a seemingly unconnected string of commandments, with medieval list-makers identifying as many as 74 separate mitzvot in the parashah. Some of these mitzvot seem to stand alone (e.g., the single-verse prohibition in Deut. 22:8 against building a house without a railing around its roof), while others fall into thematic groups (e.g., the subsequent three verses in Deut. 22:9-11, which prohibit sowing vineyards with two kinds of seeds, plowing with two kinds of animals, and wearing garments made of two kinds of threads), but each verse or group of verses ends with an abrupt shift to a new topic – unless we read it through rabbinic eyes. Since rabbinic midrash finds significance in every detail of the Torah, including every transition between Read More >

Parashat Ki Teitzei – 5786Marisa Amith2026-08-14T14:10:23-04:00

10 08, 2026

Parashat Shoftim 5786

Marisa Amith2026-08-10T10:29:13-04:00

Unsolved Murders

A D’var Torah for Parashat Shoftim

By Rabbi Dorit Edut (AJR ’06)

Many of us have seen the TV show “Unsolved Mysteries” and the Netflix series “FBI:Most Wanted” before they went off the air. We were probably attracted to the solving of these crimes because of our curiosity, but I also hope we may have been motivated by the desire to see justice done – something which our Torah tradition has ingrained in us for centuries. In my own community we have an organization called CrimeStoppers of Southeast Michigan which works closely with law enforcement and encourages people to anonymously report tips that might solve a murder crime with the promise of a nice financial reward. Yet with daily reports of new murders, resolved or not, we as a society are left with much unease.

Our Torah portion this week, Shoftim, with its emphasis on “pursuing justice” offers us a perspective on our social Read More >

Parashat Shoftim 5786Marisa Amith2026-08-10T10:29:13-04:00

3 08, 2026

Parashat Re’eh – 5786

Marisa Amith2026-08-03T13:12:00-04:00

Monotheism and the Pitfalls of Certainty

A D’var Torah for Parashat Re’eh

By Rabbi Dr. Rachel Posner

Earlier this year, two Israeli soldiers desecrated a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon. The IDF responded quickly and decisively, punishing the soldiers with jail time. It was a painful example of how our need to assert and defend ourselves can slide into triumphalism — the wish to squelch and destroy the sacred practices of others. Monotheism can be co-opted into the dangerous notion that there is only one way to serve our singular Creator. But our central tenet — Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Ehad — does not mean that there is only one way to serve God, or that we alone have the right answers about religious practice. The Second Commandment cautions us against making our own certainty into an idol.

Parashat Re’eh contains passages that are painful to read if understood literally:

אַבֵּד Read More >

Parashat Re’eh – 5786Marisa Amith2026-08-03T13:12:00-04:00

28 07, 2026

Parashat Eikev – 5786

Marisa Amith2026-07-28T16:05:01-04:00

The Nation’s Heel

A D’var Torah for Parashat Eikev

By Rabbi Anat Katzir

Parashat Eikev begins with a curious word:

וְהָיָה עֵקֶב תִּשְׁמְעוּן “And it shall come to pass because (eikev) you heed these laws…” (Deuteronomy 7:12)

The Torah could simply have said im tishme’un– “if you listen.” Instead, it chooses the unusual word eikev.

Literally, eikev means “because.” But it also means heel.

The rabbis noticed this double meaning immediately. Rashi, quoting the Midrash (Midrash Tanhuma, Eikev 1), explains that eikev hints to those commandments that people trample with their heels—the mitzvot that seem too small to matter.

The Torah’s message is startling. Judaism is not built only on dramatic acts of faith or heroic moments of sacrifice. It is built on the countless ordinary choices we barely notice.

God is found in the details.

Our tradition repeatedly teaches this lesson.

The prophet Zechariah instructs us:

…” דַּבְּר֤וּ אֱמֶת֙ אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־רֵעֵ֔הוּ אֱמֶת֙ וּמִשְׁפַּ֣ט שָׁל֔וֹם שִׁפְט֖וּ בְּשַׁעֲרֵיכֶֽם׃ וְאִ֣ישׁ ׀ אֶת־רָעַ֣ת רֵעֵ֗הוּ אַֽל־תַּחְשְׁבוּ֙ בִּלְבַבְכֶ֔ם Read More >

Parashat Eikev – 5786Marisa Amith2026-07-28T16:05:01-04:00

20 07, 2026

Parashat Vaethanan and Shabbat Nahamu – 5786

Marisa Amith2026-07-13T11:30:18-04:00

The Cadence of Comfort: Moving from Desolation to Consolation

A D’var Torah for Parashat Vaethanan and Shabbat Nahamu

By Rabbi Scott “Shalom” Klein

July 20, 2026

This Shabbat, we transition from the depths of communal mourning into a period of profound renewal. We read Parashat Vaethanan, which always coincides with Shabbat Nahamu—the Shabbat of Comfort—named after the opening words of the Haftarah: “Nahamu, nahamu ami“—”Comfort, comfort My people.” This deliberate shift from the brokenness of Tisha B’Av to the embrace of consolation offers a timeless lesson in leadership and resilience. It reminds us that recovery is not an automatic passage of time; it requires an intentional architecture of the spirit.

In the opening of the parashah, Moshe pleads with God: “Vaethanan el Hashem“—”And I implored the Lord.” Moshe begs to cross the Jordan River to see the Land of Israel, yet God firmly denies his request, telling him, “It is enough for you; speak no more to Read More >

Parashat Vaethanan and Shabbat Nahamu – 5786Marisa Amith2026-07-13T11:30:18-04:00

13 07, 2026

Parashat Devarim – 5786

Marisa Amith2026-07-13T11:19:04-04:00

A D’var Torah for Parashat Devarim

By Rabbi Dr. Matthew Goldstone

July 13, 2026

“These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel” (Deut. 1:1). The final book of the Torah begins by emphasizing that what follows (“these”) are the words of Moses to the people of Israel. But Moses says many things to the Israelites, what makes these words different and worthy of note? The Midrash in Sifrei Devarim answers this question by suggesting that Moses’s words at the beginning of Deuteronomy are specifically words of rebuke. This theme is echoed in the haftarah for this week from the beginning of Isaiah in which the prophet channels God’s chastisement of the people for their wrongdoing.

Rebuke can easily provoke anger and other negative feelings. A midrash in Sifra (on the Book of Leviticus) recognizes the way in which rebuke can be tied up with hatred, cursing, hitting, and slapping. Such charged Read More >

Parashat Devarim – 5786Marisa Amith2026-07-13T11:19:04-04:00

7 07, 2026

Parshiyot Mattot-Mase 5786

Marisa Amith2026-07-07T07:53:36-04:00

Looking Back on the Journey

A D’var Torah for Parshiyot Mattot-Masei

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz

Parashat Masei, the final reading in the book of Numbers, begins with these words:

אֵלֶּה מַסְעֵי בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר יָצְאוּ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם…

“These are the journeys of the people of Israel who set out from the land of Egypt… (Numbers 33:1)

The text then goes on to name each of the forty-two places where the Israelites stopped during their forty-year journey, up until they arrived at the river Jordan across from Jericho. There is a pattern in the way the journey is described: each stopping place has its own verse, and each journey from one place to the next is described using the same verbs, vayis’u (“and they set out [from]”) and vayahanu (“and they encamped… [at]”). The cantillation of this part of the text enhances the experience of repetition: while there are exceptions, most of the occurrences of vayis’u and its place Read More >

Parshiyot Mattot-Mase 5786Marisa Amith2026-07-07T07:53:36-04:00

29 06, 2026

Parashat Pinhas – 5786

Marisa Amith2026-06-29T13:46:58-04:00

Pinhas in Process

A D’var Torah for Parashat Pinhas

By Rabba Kaya Stern-Kaufman (2011)

This week we are reading a section of Torah named for Pinhas, the grandson of Aaron, who was a zealot for God. His story begins in the previous week’s Torah portion when many of the Israelite men become caught up in sexual relationships with the local Moabite women who enjoined them to worship Baal Peor, a local deity. In response, God sends a plague and thousands of Israelites die. Once again, things are not going well for either God or the Israelites. The Israelites’ fidelity to God is consistently weak and wavering and God responds with consistent wrath and destruction.

In the midst of this chaos, an Israelite man and a Midianite woman begin to have sexual relations in front of the Tent of Meeting. This is the place where Moshe communicates with God; a Read More >

Parashat Pinhas – 5786Marisa Amith2026-06-29T13:46:58-04:00

25 06, 2026

Parshiyot Hukkat-Balak – 5786

Marisa Amith2026-06-25T13:12:14-04:00

A D’var Torah for Parshiyot Hukkat-Balak

By Rabbi Wendy Love Anderson (2023)

The Strangest Mitzvah

What do you think is the strangest commandment in the entire Torah? There’s some pretty stiff competition. Is it the prohibition on combining wool and linen? The insistence that it’s fine to eat cows and goats but not pigs? The sandal and spitting ritual that accompanies a brother’s refusal to marry his widowed sister-in-law? The prohibition against rounding the corners of one’s beard? While some commandments are morally challenging, others are intellectually puzzling, making them difficult to explain, much less defend against criticism.

Parashat Hukkat opens with a novel Israelite ritual: in order to prepare a special liquid that will be used to ritually purify individuals contaminated by contact with a human corpse, an unblemished red heifer must be slaughtered outside the camp and (after some priestly blood-sprinkling) completely burnt, together with cedar, hyssop, and crimson dye. Although this ritual was unique, many of its component parts Read More >

Parshiyot Hukkat-Balak – 5786Marisa Amith2026-06-25T13:12:14-04:00

16 06, 2026

Parashat Korah – 5786

Marisa Amith2026-06-16T11:18:51-04:00

A D’var Torah for Parashat Korah

By Rabbi Dorit Edut (AJR 2006)

“Jewish tradition cherishes free speech. ‘When a person refrains from speech, the ideas die, the soul stops, and the senses deteriorate,’ said Moses ibn Ezra, insisting on respect for honest differences of opinion. (Shirat Yisrael, 12c). If one reads the classic texts of the rabbinic era, the Mishnah and the Gemara, every page brims with the arguments both of the majority and of those who dissented from them, recognizing that each reflected aspects of God’s truth. ‘These and these are the words of God,’ the Talmud observes about these disputes (Eruvin 13b).”[1]

Yet while Jewish law encourages robust debate and respectful dialogue, it strictly prohibits malicious speech, such as gossip, public shaming, and slander. The strongest moral disapproval is expressed in Jewish teachings of slander in all its forms. The prohibition against going around as a talebearer is stated in Read More >

Parashat Korah – 5786Marisa Amith2026-06-16T11:18:51-04:00

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

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