The AJR Center for Judaism and Science has an annual competition for the best student D’var Torah infused with science. Click here to view the entries that have won our לדעת חכמה (Lada’at Hokhmah) Award.
Parashat Balak – 5785
July 8, 2025
Rabbi Rob Scheinberg
“Listening to the Whole Story” A D’var Torah for Parashat Balak By Rabbi Rob Scheinberg “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” When Simon and Garfunkel sang these words more than 50 years ago, it was not in a political context, but this concept seems so relevant to contemporary politics. Whether with regard to American issues, Israeli issues, internal Jewish communal issues, or any other topic, many of us are so wedded to our preexisting assumptions that we pay deep attention to anything that supports what we already believe, and dismiss even reputable information if it challenges what we already believe. I often see this tendency in myself; I try to resist it, and I sometimes succeed. Balak, the king of the Moabites and the namesake of this week’s Torah portion, may be the Torah’s most outstanding exemplar of this tendency towards selective attention and confirmation bias. The Torah portion of Balak is...
Parashat Balak – 5784
July 16, 2024
Rabbi Marge Wise (AJR '21)
Our parashah for this coming Shabbat, Parashat Balak, gives us much to think about in terms of the impact of our words as they translate into our actions.
Parshiyot Hukkat-Balak 5783
June 26, 2023
Rabbi Katy Allen ('05)
I delight in the robins, cardinals, and other common birds that I regularly see and hear in my yard, and their presence brings me joy. But recently, thanks to the wonders of technology in the form of the Merlin app produced by Cornell University, my ears, mind, and heart have been opened to the knowledge that there are many other, less common and well-known birds, right here in my own backyard. Through the ability of this app to inform me of the birds around me by recording their songs, I have discovered that rose-breasted grosbeaks, warbling vireos, chimney swifts, and cedar waxwings are prone to visiting my neighborhood. Who knew! What a wonder! The joy, uplift, delight, and hope that awareness of these mostly unseen birds bring me is deep and unbounded. They make my day. Balak, King of Moab, sends Bilam to curse the Israelites. Along the way, Bilam has a...
Parashat Balak 5782
July 14, 2022
In this week’s D’var Torah, Rabbi Matthew Goldstone encourages us to see deeper meaning behind Bilaam’s blessings.
Parashat Balak 5781
June 24, 2021
Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah A D’var Torah for Parashat Balak By Rabbi Doug Alpert (’12) Responding to a request from a congregant at my Shul, for quite some time now we have been studying the role of angels in Judaism. I was grateful for the suggestion as I immediately knew the source for our studies, the book, A Gathering of Angels by Morris B. Margolies z”l. I grew up with Rabbi Margolies as my spiritual leader. As I am continually looking for opportunities to cite and honor all of my teachers to have the opportunity to do a deep dive into Rabbi Margolies’ most widely read work has been a source of great joy to me. Rabbi Margolies has had an enormous influence on my work as rabbi; particularly his passion and courage in confronting controversial issues of social injustice. A Gathering of Angels has served as a...
