Divrei Torah Archives | Page 69 of 78 | Academy for Jewish Religion

2 08, 2007

Rosh HaShanah

By ahsilver|2007-08-02T13:30:26-04:00August 2, 2007|

By Dr. Ora Horn Prouser

As we finish preparing for Rosh Hashanah, I would like to offer a few words of Torah. The traditional Torah reading for the first day of Rosh Hashanah includes the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael from Abraham and Sarah’s home. As they wander out in the desert, Hagar, unable to watch the agony and anticipated death of her son, places him under a bush and sits down at a distance in tears. When the angel approaches Hagar explaining that she needn’t fear and that they would not die, she is directed to pick up her son, and ‘hold him by the hand.’ She then is able to see a nearby well; they drink, and survive the horrific experience. It is significant that God did not need to tell Hagar to drink or to provide water for her son; she knew to do that. Read More >

10 07, 2007

Parashat Mattot-Massei

By ahsilver|2007-07-10T12:12:23-04:00July 10, 2007|

By Rabbi Jeff Hoffman

I’m a guitarist. Have been for many years. On the guitar case of one of my guitars, I have affixed a bumper sticker that reads ‘What would Jerry say?’ The ‘Jerry’ referred to is Jerry Garcia, the late lead guitarist for the greatest rock ‘n roll band the world has known, The Grateful Dead. The bumper sticker is, of course, a knock-off of a contemporary Christian saying which substitutes another name that begins with a ‘J’ for the ‘Jerry’ in this sticker. I’m thinking about the sticker on my guitar case because it applies, in a way, to the Haftarah for this Shabbat. The point of the Haftarah can be seen as ‘What would Jeremiah say?’

The haftarah for this Shabbat is the second of the T’lata DePur`anuta, ‘the three (haftarot of) (Warning of) Punishment.’ These three haftarot are always read on the three Shabbatot that precede Tisha B’Av, and Read More >

3 07, 2007

Parashat Pinhas

By Bruce Alpert|2007-07-03T08:18:15-04:00July 3, 2007|

By Bruce Alpert

Our parashah this week begins in a curious place. The affair of Baal-Peor is related in Chapter 25 of Bemidbar – a brief 18 verses. Yet the story is broken in half by the division of the parashiot ‘ nine verses last week in Balak and the final nine in this week’s parashah, Pinhas. Certainly it would seem more logical to read this story in its entirety, within a single parashah.

Pinhas, of course, is a problematic character ‘ one who has troubled us at least since Talmudic times. His rash act in killing Zimri and Cozbi seems to define religious zealotry at its very worst. Yet that act ends a plague that took the lives of 24,000 Israelites and, we learn this week, earns him and his family God’s eternal favor. How are we to reconcile our own natural abhorrence at Pinhas’s actions with all the good and favor Read More >

27 06, 2007

Parashat Balak

By ahsilver|2007-06-27T08:13:35-04:00June 27, 2007|

By Joan Lenowitz

Every morning in our daily liturgy we recite the words spoken by the gentile prophet Balaam who acts as Balak’s agent and is the main protagonist in the narrative of Parashat Balak, ‘Mah tovu ohalekha Ya’akov mishk’notekha Yisrael,’ traditionally rendered, ‘How goodly are your tents, Jacob, your dwelling places, Israel.’ (Num. 24:5) The Talmud teaches (Bava Batra 60a) that Balaam, noticing the way the Israelite tents are laid out, is commenting here on how respectful the Israelite people are of family privacy, which also implies a fortification against proscribed sexual activity.

We may feel a flush of pride at this distinction of our people in this blessing. We may also feel the pangs of our own failings and those of our ancestors, to live up to this laudation. In fact, no sooner has this blessing been pronounced upon Israel in Numbers 24:3-9, but the honor of the people is impugned. In Read More >

21 06, 2007

Parashat Hukkat

By ahsilver|2007-06-21T13:08:17-04:00June 21, 2007|

Parashat Hukkat
By Michael G. Kohn

This week’s parashah is noteworthy for a number of reasons, but what caught my eye are the deaths of Moses’ two siblings ‘ Miriam and Aaron. The account of Aaron’s death, not surprisingly, is more elaborate, with its description of Moses’ transfer of the vestments of the kohein gadol (High Priest) from Aaron to his son, Elazar. Yet Miriam’s role, though not formalized in the manner of her brother and nephew, was, and remains today, just as important, if not more so, to the Jewish people.

The role of the kohanim (priests) in general and the kohein gadol in particular, was a very public one. In their work in the Temple, they acted on behalf of the populace in preparing and offering the various sacrifices ordained by Torah. Even today, in those congregations that maintain the practice of dukhanen ‘ where the kohanim pronounce the Read More >

14 06, 2007

Parashat Korah

By ahsilver|2007-06-14T06:38:53-04:00June 14, 2007|

Korah
By Rabbi Yehonatan Chipman

‘The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.’ ~ William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming

Traditionally, Korah‘s revolt is interpreted as a conflict revolving around issues of religious power and authority. What qualifies a person to be a leader, and who, or what determines whether his leadership is to be seen as legitimate or otherwise? The midrashim describing the objections raised by Korah to Moses’ leadership suggest several different facets of this rebellion, and of his approach generally.

At the outset (and here I quote the plain meaning of the biblical text) he challenges Moshe and Aaron with a democratic argument: ‘For all the congregation are holy and God is in their midst; why then do you lord it over the people of God’ [Num 16:3]. Korah cultivated a populist, pseudo-democratic, egalitarian style. Perhaps Read More >

7 06, 2007

Parashat Shlah Lekha

By ahsilver|2007-06-07T12:24:28-04:00June 7, 2007|

Looking Without Seeing
By Paul Hoffman

The Lord said to Moses saying: Speak to the Israelite people and instruct them to make for themselves fringes on the corners of the garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue to the fringe on each corner. That shall be your fringe;look at it and recall all the commandments of the Lord and observe them, so that you do not follow your heart and eyes in your lustful urge. Thus shall you be reminded to observe all my commandments and be holy to your God. I the Lord am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I the Lord your God.(Numbers 15:37-41)

So what does the command to wear tzitzit have to do with this week’s story of the twelve spies ‘ Come and learn:

Our parashah this week is well known and quite straight forward. As Read More >

30 05, 2007

Parashat Bâ€™haâ€™alotekha

By ahsilver|2007-05-30T07:00:36-04:00May 30, 2007|

Parashat B’ha’alotekha
By Rabbi Aryeh Meir

In his translation of the Five Books of Moses, Everett Fox introduces this section of Sefer Bamidbar (the Book of Numbers) with the title, ‘The Rebellion Narratives.’ The nation, exhausted, hungry (for meat) and thirsty, hurl a series of complaints against their leaders, most harshly against Moses. When the people complain about the quality of the food (since leaving Egypt they had been on a steady diet of Manna in the wilderness), Moses loses it:

Where should I get meat to give to this entire people . . . I am not able, myself alone, to carry this entire people, for it is too heavy for me!

God then tells Moses to gather seventy elders and bring them to the Tent of Appointment and there God will ‘extend from the rushing spirit (ruah) that is upon you and place it upon them; then they will carry along with Read More >

21 05, 2007

Shavuot 5767

By ahsilver|2007-05-21T08:37:21-04:00May 21, 2007|

Shavuot
By Rabbi S. Robert Waxman, AJR ’79

During these weeks since the Festival of Passover we have been moving toward Shavuot ‘ Pentecost, the Festival of Weeks, the time of the giving and receiving of Torah.

What is Torah? That is a basic question. As we look into possible answers to this question we will have to begin by asking additional basic questions.

What is our goal in life as modern Americans? It is to have a life in community and a life of meaning. As we pause in our journey at Mount Sinai, let us consider how the Torah may be understood in terms of community and meaning.

Let us consider where each of us is with regard to our own personal religious life. The first question is not what each of us believes. No, our beliefs are likely to change with time. It is where we stand in relation to our tradition, what Read More >

16 05, 2007

Parashat Bemidbar

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2007-05-16T06:05:44-04:00May 16, 2007|

Israel’s ‘New’ Tribes
By Irwin Huberman

This week, as we begin reading Bemidbar, the fourth book of the Torah ‘ Numbers ‘ God commands Moses to conduct a count of males 20 years of age and older.

The parashah (the weekly Torah portion) goes into painstaking detail describing who the leaders of each tribe were, and ultimately how many men were counted in each.

The Torah tells us that, excluding the Levites whose role it was to tend to the Mishkan, Israel’s primary place of worship, there were 603,550 males over 20 years old. The figure inspires us to ‘do the math’ to estimate shortly after the exodus from Egypt, how many children of Israel, including women and children were part of the initial journey from Egypt to the land of Canaan.

The Torah reminds us through the account of the census the importance of our tribes and affiliations. Our tradition tells us that each 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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