Parashat Terumah – 5785
February 25, 2025
Rabbi Gerry L. Ginsburg (AJR '19)
A D’var Torah for Parashat Terumah When someone talks about a sanctuary, what comes to mind? If one uses that term for a house of worship, then images of clergy might enter one’s mind, with an Aron Kodesh, an ark containing the Torah scrolls, and the bimah with stands for the clergy to lead a prayer service. Maybe some stained glass. Definitely a window or two. The sanctuary can be large and formal –think of Temple Emmanuel in New York City. Or it can be small, informal and intimate such as a neighborhood shtiebel, and anywhere in between. They are places for Jewish prayer, where individuals try to get closer to God, and to each other, in prayer and song. The term sanctuary first came into our lexicon with this week’s Torah portion, Terumah. But that sanctuary was not of an arbitrary size with rooms and fixtures which could vary. No, the first sanctuary, the Mishkan, a portable sanctuary for offerings as the...
Parashat Mishpatim – 5785
February 18, 2025
Rabbi Greg Schindler (’09)
Promises, Promises A D’var Torah for Parashat Mishpatim By Rabbi Greg Schindler (AJR ’09) While last week’s Torah portion is so famous that they made a movie about it (something with Charlton Heston), this week’s parsha – Mishpatim or “Laws” – has a very different flavor. This week, we get – count ‘em – 53 different laws on a vast array of topics. They include the treatment of servants, betrothal of handmaidens, insults, injuries, theft, loans, false witnesses, bribery, return of lost animals, land usage, festivals and many more. Then, after 80-something verses of laws, we get the following line (Exod 23:18-20 ): https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.23.18-20?lang=bi&aliyot=0– “I am going to send an angel before you to protect you on the way, and to bring you to the place that I have designated.” Wait…what?! You’re sending an angel before us? Where did that come from? It’s like reading the U.S. Federal Tax Code and coming across a line from Harry Potter. Now that it...
Parashat Yitro – 5785
February 10, 2025
Susan Elkodsi
In this week’s Torah portion, Rabbi Susan Elkodsi sees Yitro’s advice to Moses as a reminder that strong and effective leaders also need to care for their own wellbeing.
February 4, 2025
Cantor Robin Anne Joseph (’96)
In this week’s D’var Torah, Cantor Robin Anne Joseph wonders (with apologies for the gender specificity) if “to know, know, know Him is to love, love, love Him.”
Parashat Bo – 5785
January 30, 2025
Hazzan Rabbi Luis Cattan ('20)
As I watched live the final episode of “Kochav haba LeEurovision” and witnessed the elegant sensitivity with which they crafted this joyous occasion with the reiterated references to the last almost sixteen months that the hostages have been in captivity, I couldn’t avoid thinking of Naomi Shemer’s song “BeDamaikh Hayi”
