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 Shelah – 5786
June 9, 2026
Rabbi Rachel Posner
Remembering as an Act of Imagination A D’var Torah for Parashat Shelah By Rabbi Dr. Rachel Posner This week I met with my psychotherapy client, Melanie (not her real name), who is preparing to give birth for the first time. At her recent baby shower, friends and relatives could not resist sharing their own birth stories. Each woman hoped to help prepare Melanie for what lay ahead. Instead, their stories multiplied her anxiety. “I’m scared,” she told me, “because I’m not really in control. I don’t know what will happen, or what it will really feel like.” This is, of course, a completely natural response to a completely natural situation. Women give birth every day – but for Melanie, it is not every day. It is the most consequential day of her life so far. I asked her to remember that she has everything she needs to navigate what’s coming,...
Parashat Shelah – 5785
June 16, 2025
Rabbi Ḥazzan Luis Cattan
A D’var Torah for Parashat Shelah By Hazzan Rabbi Luis Cattan Nahbi and Geuel had grown up in the brickyards of Egypt, where children learned to whisper dreams only in the dark. They shared the same clay dust, the same lash, the same bitter herbs—but never friendship. Nahbi, son of Vophsi of the tribe of Naphtali, was careful and calculating, known for his smooth tongue and cautious mind. Geuel, son of Makhi from the tribe of Gad, was shrewd and ambitious, always watching from the shadows. They admired each other’s strengths in the way adversaries do—always measuring, never trusting. Now, with the miraculous Exodus behind them and the covenant of Sinai fresh in their memories, they were suddenly leaders—appointed chieftains of their respective tribes. And rivals once more. As the twelve chieftains stood before Moses, the air was thick with anticipation and uncertainty. His instructions were precise, devoid of sentiment: “When Moses sent them...
Parashat Shelah 5784
June 24, 2024
Rabbi Rob Scheinberg
A French Catholic teen’s first glimpse of Jews wrapped in their Tallitot led him to intuit one of Judaism’s essential values
Parashat Shelah Lekha 5783
June 13, 2023
Rabbi Rena H. Kieval ('06)
God is out of patience, ready to give up on the grumbling Israelites. God and Moshe have attempted to transform a group of homeless, freed slaves into a nation, while the people have struggled with dissension, lack of faith and understandable fears about their future. They complain, rebel and grumble. (The Book of Numbers might also be called the Book of Grumblers!) In this week’s parasha, this “generation of the wilderness,”dor ha-midbar, has committed the second of its most egregious acts of rebellion. Earlier, they built and worshipped a golden calf. In Shelah lekha, twelve scouts, a leader from each tribe, report on their mission to check out the promised land. They all agree that the land is fertile and desirable, but ten of the twelve recommend against going forward, stirring fear and doubt and demoralizing the people. The Israelites declare, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we might die in the...
Parashat Shelah 5782
June 24, 2022
In this week’s D’var Torah, Rabbi Katy Allen says that Caleb and Joshua teach us not to catastrophize but to seek out the best and maintain a positive outlook even when the future feels fearful.
