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 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 Terumah 5784
February 12, 2024
Rabbi Enid C. Lader ('10)
We have been freed from the bondage and oppressive servitude under Pharaoh. We have crossed the narrow passageway of the Reed Sea to freedom in the wilderness. We have stood at Sinai and entered into a covenant with God, saying “Na’aseh v’Nishmah” – We will follow God’s ways and seek to understand them. And, now, in this week’s Torah portion, God tells Moses to collect terumah – gifts of materials and supplies from the Israelites “nd let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” A list has been delineated: from precious metals to precious stones, an array of yarns to animal skins and goat hair, wood, oil and spices… All of this to be brought as terumah from each person whose heart so moves them;
Parashat Terumah 5783
February 20, 2023
Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah The Impermanence of the Natural world and the Eternity of God’s Presence A D’var Torah for Parashat Terumah By Rabbi Mitchell Blank (’21) As I write these words, the death toll has risen to over 36,000 and tens of thousands more have been injured, let alone the untold number who have become homeless and penniless. Life on earth is truly fragile and it’s sad that only violent tragedies such as the recent earthquake centered in Turkey and Syria seem to be able to wake us up to the reality of the impermanence of it all. In these moments, we cry out to God: Where are you?! Yet, we know that this apparent absence of the Divine is beyond our comprehension. In better times, we can occasionally feel God’s presence. We acknowledge this natural oscillation in our understanding of God in the Kedushah for Musaf: “God’s glory fills the...
Parashat Terumah 5782
February 4, 2022
Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah A D’var Torah for Parashat Terumah By Rabbi Doug Alpert (’12) My original D’var Torah which I wrote on Sunday afternoon appears below. However, on Sunday evening many in our AJR community gathered (via Zoom) to share memories of our teacher, Rabbi Yitzchak Mann z”l. Dr. Ora Horn Prouser as our teacher and Academic Dean shared a D’var Torah which, like my D’var Torah referenced the poles of the Ark contained within the Mishkan – our Holy Tabernacle. With that experience I would feel remiss if I did not dedicate this D’var Torah to the memory of Rabbi Mann. As it was said on Sunday evening, Rabbi Mann was not only an extraordinary teacher of Torah, but someone who through his gentle and generous spirit lived Torah. So how did I draw the short straw. In its droning on and on with instructions for building the...
Parashat Terumah 5781
February 19, 2021
Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah A D’var Torah for Parashat Terumah and Shabbat Zakhor By Rabbi Marc Rudolph (’04) This week I want to share a D’var Torah from the collection of Divrei Torah known as Aish Kodesh, or Holy Fire. The Piacezna Rebbe, Rabbi Kolonymous Shapira, wrote these between 1939 and 1942 while confined in the Warsaw Ghetto. The particular D’var Torah I am about to summarize was written on January 27, 1940. The superscript informs us that on this Sabbath he was forced into hiding. He begins by citing Ex 18:1. “Jethro heard all about what G-d had done….” Rashi’s commentary on this says that Jethro heard specifically about the Splitting of the Red Sea and the battle with Amalek. But, the Rebbe asks, why would Rashi need to say this? After all, the text itself says that Jethro “heard about all that...
