Divrei Torah Archives | Page 22 of 78 | Academy for Jewish Religion

1 03, 2019

Parashat Vayakhel 5779

By Rabbi Heidi Hoover|2019-03-01T03:05:56-05:00March 1, 2019|

A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayakhel
By Rabbi Heidi Hoover (’11)

In this week’s Torah portion, Vayakhel, the Israelites finally get to do something. Something sanctioned, something that is approved—in fact, instructed—by God through Moses. Moses has received the detailed instructions from God to build a dwelling-place for God among the Israelites, the Tabernacle. The Israelites became restless and anxious while waiting for Moses: In last week’s Torah portion they made the Golden Calf, and were punished for it.

Now Moses stands before them again, and this time they are not in trouble. Moses begins by instructing them to work six days of the week, but to rest on the seventh. Then they are instructed to bring as gifts the materials needed to build the Tabernacle, and they bring, and bring, and bring, until there is more than is needed and they have to be told to stop.

Why do they bring so much? Rebbe Yehudah Read More >

21 02, 2019

Parashat Ki Tissa 5779

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2019-02-21T00:34:22-05:00February 21, 2019|

What is a Half Shekel Worth?
A D’var Torah for Parashat Ki Tissa
By Rabbi Irwin Huberman (’10)

About three years ago, a mysterious envelope with no return address arrived on my desk.

I opened it cautiously, slowly pulling out a blank white folded card which contained half of a twenty dollar bill.

Was this some kind of slur? Was it a practical joke? I paused for a moment, shook my head, and slipped the half bill in my desk drawer and continued with whatever I was doing.

About a month later, I rediscovered the torn bill under a cluster of papers, and later, while making a bank deposit, presented it to the teller.

“What do I do with this?” I asked. “Is there some way I can give it to charity? What is half of a twenty dollar bill worth anyway?

And she coldly replied, “It is worth nothing without the other half.” She then pulled a laminated card Read More >

13 02, 2019

Parashat Tetzavah 5779

By Bruce Alpert|2019-02-13T10:52:48-05:00February 13, 2019|

A D’var Torah for Parashat Tetzavah
By Rabbi Bruce Alpert (’11)

I imagine that I am like many people who read Terumah and Tetzavah – last week’s and this week’s Torah portions – with a mixture of frustration and intrigue; frustration at being unable to fully follow the details of the design of the Mishkan and its many furnishings, and intrigue because of the materials used: glowing jewels, gleaming metals and rich fabrics.

Yet in reading through this week’s details of the priestly robes, particularly those of the high priest, one detail stuck out to me. The two most unusual garments, the Ephod and the Hoshen Mishpat (essentially a vest and a breastplate) both were adorned with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. The reason given for this adornment is the same for both garments: as a remembrance before the Lord (Exodus 28:12 & 29)

But we might ask, remembrance of what?

I think Read More >

8 02, 2019

Parashat Terumah 5779

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2019-02-08T12:32:03-05:00February 8, 2019|

A D’var Torah for Parashat Terumah
By Cantor Sandy Horowitz (’14)

V’asu li mikdash v’shakhanti b’tokham

“And they shall make for Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst”

Exodus 25:8

Some people require periods of solitude in order to best function in the world. In fact, self-chosen solitude is generally considered to be beneficial, particularly in today’s increasingly social-media-run, group-conscious culture. And although our biblical ancestors obviously didn’t have cellphones or Twitter accounts as they wandered in the wilderness, the conditions of their lifestyle – being constantly surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people — similarly was not conducive to seeking solitude. Two weeks ago in the Torah portion Yitro, we read about how the Israelite people stood together in fear and awe as God’s laws were revealed to them; had I been there, I imagine I would not be the only one in need of some alone-time so as to reflect on what had Read More >

31 01, 2019

Parashat Mishpatim 5779

By Rabbi Len Levin|2019-01-31T12:18:25-05:00January 31, 2019|

We the People, in Covenant with God
A D’var Torah for Parashat Mishpatim
By Rabbi Len Levin

“And these are the rules that you shall set before them.” (Exodus 21:1)

Who are the them before whom God instructs Moses to set the rules in this week’s portion?

Rashi, following the Talmud (Gittin 88b), interprets this verse as teaching that the judicial rules are to be entrusted to the ordained Israelite judges, not to gentile courts or to Israelite lay persons. On this reading, them refers to the judges (playing on lifneihem to suggest lifnim [within]—a subset of the people).

But the context of this passage suggests a broader audience. This verse is a continuation of the speech beginning in Exodus 20:19: “The Lord said to Moses: Thus shall you say to the Israelites: You yourselves saw that I spoke to you from the very heavens.” On this contextual reading, the rules of Parashat Mishpatim are Read More >

24 01, 2019

Parashat Yitro 5779

By Rabbi Matthew Goldstone, PhD|2019-01-24T12:47:38-05:00January 24, 2019|

A D’var Torah for Parashat Yitro
By Rabbi Matthew Goldstone

At the beginning of this week’s parasha Moses’ father-in-law, Yitro, hears of “all that God had done for Moses and the Israelites” (Exod. 18:1) and he brings Moses’ wife and children to join the Israelites in the desert. Moses goes out to greet Yitro and warmly welcomes him into his tent. Moses then recounts to his father-in-law all of the miraculous deeds that God performed to bring the Israelites out of Egypt and Yitro rejoices (Exod. 18:8-9). But wait. If Yitro already heard about “all that God had done for Moses and the Israelites,” then why does he only rejoice after hearing all of this again from Moses? By this point the exodus is old news! Perhaps the answer lies not in the message but in the messenger. Hearing secondhand, even about miracles such as the splitting of the sea, is simply Read More >

18 01, 2019

Parashat Beshallah 5779

By Rabbi David Evan Markus|2019-01-18T14:05:43-05:00January 18, 2019|

A D’car Torah for Parashat Beshallah
By Rabbi David Evan Markus

It’s an occupational hazard. We clergy so delight in bringing Torah to life and liturgy to life that we might unashamedly “geek out” – especially when we do both at the same time. When I link Torah with liturgy in ways that enliven both, my joy can be irrepressible. (Thankfully my New York congregation seems to like it, and my closest friends at least grudgingly tolerate it.)

This week’s portion (Beshallah) and its Song of the Sea seem ready-made for this Torah-liturgy two-fer of joy.

Morning and evening, traditional liturgy after the Shema brings us to the Sea of Reeds (Ex. 14). We reach the shore of entrapping finitude and then, with holy help, we’re invited to see the impossible into being. By suspending disbelief and experiencing the miracle, we can go free again and again. This journey from bondage to freedom is the journey of Jewish Read More >

11 01, 2019

Parashat Bo 5779

By Rabbi Heidi Hoover|2019-01-11T22:59:54-05:00January 11, 2019|

A D’var Torah for Parashat Bo
By Rabbi Heidi Hoover (’11)

In this week’s Torah portion, Bo, we are in the midst of the dramatic story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, when they go from slavery to freedom. Because it is the story we retell at Passover, it is one of the most familiar in the Torah. God frees the Israelites “with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Psalm 136:12).

In parashat Bo, the last three of the ten plagues befall the Egyptians: locusts, darkness, and the death of the first-born. The penultimate plague, darkness, seems like it might be less destructive than the other two. After all, it gets dark every night, and we all get through it. But this wasn’t like that regular, natural darkness. This was three solid days of “darkness that can be touched” (Exodus 10:21). “A person could not see his brother or sister, and for Read More >

4 01, 2019

Parashat Va’era 5779

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2019-01-04T09:51:02-05:00January 4, 2019|

Hearing more voices in the Passover story
A D’var Totah for Parashat Va’era
By Rabbi Irwin Huberman (’10)

The story of the enslavement of Jewish people in Egypt is perhaps one of the most powerful stories within the entire Torah. It is the stuff of heroes and villains, slavery and liberation.

It has captured the imagination of those across many faiths and cultural backgrounds, and continues to inspire Passover – perhaps the most observed holiday across all of Judaism.

Yet, there are so many gaps and unanswered questions.

Indeed, while this week’s Parashah, Va’era (And God appeared) engages us in a thrilling narrative of miracles and plagues, there is perhaps one central perspective which is sorely lacking: “Where are the voices of the Israelites and Egyptians – those who were the most affected by this dramatic story of slavery and human suffering?”

Isn’t it interesting that the entire Passover story is told almost exclusively through three main characters: Moses, Read More >

27 12, 2018

Parashat Shemot 5779

By Bruce Alpert|2018-12-27T15:52:13-05:00December 27, 2018|

A D’var Torah for Parashat Shemot
By Rabbi Bruce Alpert (’11)

Living up to its own name, our Torah portion, Shemot – Names – has a lot of them. Some of them are known to us. Some are new. And some aren’t given at all.

Among the new names are those of Shiphrah and Puah – the two midwives whom Pharaoh orders to kill all the male Israelite newborns. And therein lies a curiosity. We know the names of the servants. We don’t know the name of the king they serve. Indeed, his only identifying characteristic seems to be that he “did not know Joseph.” (Exodus 1:8).

The Rashi on this verse directs us to a dispute in the Talmud between Rav and Shmuel as to this Pharaoh’s identity (Sotah 11a). One insists that he really is a new leader, while the other claims it was the same Pharaoh as in Joseph’s time who issued new decrees following the latter’s death. To me, 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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