Divrei Torah Archives | Page 2 of 78 | Academy for Jewish Religion

20 02, 2023

Parashat Terumah 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:09:26-04:00February 20, 2023|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

The Impermanence of the Natural world and the Eternity of God’s Presence
A D’var Torah for Parashat Terumah
By Rabbi Mitchell Blank (’21)

As I write these words, the death toll has risen to over 36,000 and tens of thousands more have been injured, let alone the untold number who have become homeless and penniless. Life on earth is truly fragile and it’s sad that only violent tragedies such as the recent earthquake centered in Turkey and Syria seem to be able to wake us up to the reality of the impermanence of it all. In these moments, we cry out to God: Where are you?! Yet, we know that this apparent absence of the Divine is beyond our comprehension. In better times, we can occasionally feel God’s presence. We acknowledge this natural oscillation in our understanding of God in the Kedushah for Musaf: “God’s glory fills the universe” but Read More >

13 02, 2023

Parashat Mishpatim 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:09:35-04:00February 13, 2023|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

Yearning for Divine Intimacy, and the Call of Ordinary Life
A D’var Torah for Parashat Mishpatim
By Dr. Yakir Englander

The weekly Torah portion – Parashat Mishpatim – opens with a long list of laws governing daily life. On the face of it, there is no hint of the previous portion’s numinous encounter between the People of Israel and the Divine at Mount Sinai. The dark cloud and the thunderous voices are gone, and instead we find Israel saddled with a tedious inventory of colorless rules.

And yet, as this portion unfolds, we learn of more intimate divine/human encounters – described now with a kind of holy pathos. The people respond, to each of the divine injunctions, na’aseh ve-nishma’ – “We will do, and we will hear!” Moses and Aaron, with the latter’s two sons and also seventy elders representing Read More >

6 02, 2023

Parashat Yitro 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:09:44-04:00February 6, 2023|

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Yitro
By Rabbi Greg Schindler (’09)

“She generally gave herself very good advice (although she very seldom followed it)”

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

How good are you at taking advice?

I know that I could use a lot of work in this department, especially when it comes to unsolicited advice. If someone starts a sentence with, “I think you should”, I often nod my head appreciatively… and tune out.

This seems to be a part of human nature. According to research, people generally start out with a personal bias towards their own opinions, and discount the advice of others.

Most of us feel like the Duchess in Alice: “If everybody minded their own business ..the world would go round a deal faster than it does.”

Perhaps to counteract this bias, our tradition is replete with advice about Read More >

1 02, 2023

Parashat Beshalah 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:09:52-04:00February 1, 2023|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

Fear of Freedom?
A D’var Torah for Parashat Beshalah
By Rabbi Steven Altarescu (’14)The most powerful metaphor in Jewish thought is the exodus from Egypt. The story of the exodus has been read as a model of people seeking freedom in every historical period, as a symbol of rebirth and renewal, as freeing oneself from psychological and emotional conscription.

The visual image of the sea parting, leaving dry land for the Israelites to march through but then closing up and drowning the Egyptians who pursued them, is stirring. The song the Israelites sung when they witnessed the power of God to open the sea for them but close it on the Egyptians is sung every morning as part of the shaharit service.

In the Torah the song of the sea is Read More >

24 01, 2023

Parashat Bo 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:10:00-04:00January 24, 2023|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

Moses Gone Rogue
A D’var Torah for Parashat Bo
By Cantor Robin Anne Joseph (’96)

In this week’s Torah portion, Bo, Moses goes rogue.

True, he has already been known to have “acted out,” shall we say. There was the incident of Moses killing an Egyptian taskmaster upon seeing him beating a Hebrew slave, so we know Moses has a temper, but that was before Moses was under the tutelage of ‘ה. Doesn’t Moses now have an obligation to adhere to the directives of this Higher Power?

It seems to start out that way. ‘ה has given Moses the task of administering the plagues and Moses has been faithfully carrying out that task. Up to this point, between the efforts of ‘ה, and Aaron and Moses as directed by ‘ה, the plagues seem Read More >

16 01, 2023

Parashat Vaeira 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:10:08-04:00January 16, 2023|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

The Presence and Absence of Names
A D’var Torah for Parashat Vaeira
By Rabbi Robert Scheinberg

Last week’s Torah portion, the first Torah person of the Book of Exodus, is called “Shemot,” which means “names.” And in fact, the Torah portion begins with the names of the sons of Jacob who descended to Egypt and had become the ancestors of the Tribes of Israel. But in a Torah portion which is called “Shemot,” there are relatively few personalities in last week’s Torah portion whose names are listed.

For example, the birth and very early life of the most significant person in the entire Torah are described as follows in last week’s Torah portion: (Exodus 2) “A man from the house of Levi married a woman who was a daughter of Levi. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw how beautiful he was, she hid Read More >

10 01, 2023

Parashat Shemot 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:10:19-04:00January 10, 2023|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Shemot
By Rabbi Katy Allen (’05)

I’m glad I wasn’t an Egyptian back then.
I’m glad I wasn’t there
to be ordered by Pharaoh
to throw newborn babies
into the river. (Exodus 1:22)

Although, I’ve heard that I might not necessarily
have had to drown any babies myself ‒
I might, instead, have had to force my neighbors,
the Israelites,
to drown their own babies (Or HaHaim).
I’m glad I didn’t have to do that either.

It’s also possible,
the whispers through the generations tell me ‒
and I shudder in response ‒
that if I myself had given birth
the day that Moses was born,
I might have had to kill my own baby,
Egyptian though he would have been. (Sotah 12a)
Of all the terrible things our sacred tradition tells us

that Pharaoh did,
I find that telling his own people
to snatch up baby Read More >

3 01, 2023

Parashat Veyehi 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:10:26-04:00January 3, 2023|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

Wrestling With Our Names: Lessons from Jacob/Israel
A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayehi
By Rabbi Rena Kieval (’06)

Each of us has a name
given by God
and given by our parents
Each of us has a name
given by our stature and our smile
and given by what we wear

Each of us has a name
given by the mountains
and given by our walls

Each of us has a name
given by the stars
and given by our neighbors

Each of us has a name
given by our sins
and given by our longing

Each of us has a name
given by our enemies
and given by our love

Each of us has a name
given by our celebrations
and given by our work

Each of us has a name
given by the seasons
and given by our blindness

Each of us has a name
given by the sea
and given by
our death.

27 12, 2022

Parashat Vayigash 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:10:35-04:00December 27, 2022|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

Anti-Shemitism: The Power of Names to Turn Us Into an Abomination
A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayigash
By Rabbi Mitchell Blank (’21)

In a recent notorious SNL monologue, Dave Chappelle proclaims: “There are two words in the English language you should never say together, in sequence, and those words are “the” and “Jews”.” As per Chappelle, this would violate the “show business rules of perception: If they’re Black it’s a gang, if they’re Italian, it’s a mob but if they’re Jewish; it’s a coincidence and you should never speak about it.” Each group receives its own racial or ethnic epithet. As for the Jews, they control Hollywood. In Chappelle’s opinion, Jewish control is so pervasive that even naming “the Jews” will unleash a severe backlash against anyone who tries. Jews are uniquely noxious in that epithets are insufficient to dirty our name. In addition, Jews are allegedly so Read More >

19 12, 2022

Parashat Mikeitz 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:10:43-04:00December 19, 2022|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Mikeitz
By Rabbi Ira Dounn (’17)

How is the arc of your own story bending right now?

I think about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quote “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice” often, particularly when a desired outcome hasn’t yet been achieved. MLK is reminding us to have hope despite the slow pace at which it seems progress sometimes occurs.

To this point, Joseph has had a tough life. Although originally the favorite child, Joseph’s brothers act on their intense jealousy, throw him into the pit, and sell him into slavery. His position as a slave in Egypt is initially comfortable and successful, all things considered, since “G-d was with Joseph” (Gen. 39:2). But after he is falsely accused of sexually assaulting Potiphar’s wife, back down into “the pit” he goes and he is thrown Read More >

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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