Parashat Eikev 5782

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

Of Bread and Potential
A D’var Toraj for Parashat Eikev
By Rabbi Katy Allen (’05)

The grass dries out in the heat–

it’s brown now.

Flowering plants, and even shrubs,

are wilting,

their leaves dull and stiff,

the bright blue of the sky

day after day

broken only

by occasional fair-weather clouds,

as the temperatures soar

and relief doesn’t come.

Here in my yard,

the visible life and death question is

focused on plants,

and perhaps some pollinators

or creepy crawlers in the soil

(though the bunnies and woodchucks no longer graze outside my window,

and I’m wondering where and what they are munching instead).

Elsewhere, however,

earthlings

are dying.

Humans cannot live by bread alone, (Deuteronomy 8:3)

our Torah text tells us,

and some rabbis say this means

we actually can live on less–

although I find it impossible to imagine no need for water.

The text also says

that humans can live on anything the Lord decrees,

and thus the manna from heaven was Read More >

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:53:00-05:00August 18, 2022|

Parashat Va’ethanan 5782

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

Studying Torah 101
A D’var Torah for Parashat Va’ethanan
By Rabbi Rob Scheinberg

I first began to study Talmud in 7th grade in the Jewish day school I attended as a child. Those first months of Talmud were intensely frustrating. The Talmud, as a work of law, is supposed to be logical. And much of the content of the Talmud is, in fact, a series of logical arguments about different rabbis’ statements on various matters in Jewish law. But there were also a number of statements in the Talmud that, to my classmates and to me, just didn’t seem to make any sense. These rabbinic statements purported to be logical but just didn’t seem logical to us. Being seventh graders, my classmates and I expressed this frustration in a typical seventh grade manner, opining “This is stupid,” or “This is a waste of time,” or in Read More >

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:53:11-05:00August 12, 2022|

Parashat Devarim 5782

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

Do You Believe In Miracles?
A D’var Torah for Parashat Devarim
By Rabbi Marc Rudolph (’04)

In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses assembles the Israelites on the plains of Moab, poised to enter the Land promised to our ancestors. In a series of three speeches, Moses recounts the history of the past forty years, reviews old laws and imparts new ones, exhorts the people to follow the commandments and castigates them for their failure to do so in the past. He recalls the miracles of the plagues in Egypt and the miracle of the splitting of the Red Sea. He reminds the Israelites how God cared for them in the wilderness, “as a man carries his son, all the way that you traveled until you came to this place” (Deuteronomy 1:31). God even personally guides the Jewish people on their Read More >

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:53:20-05:00August 5, 2022|

Parashat Mattot-Masei 5782

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Mattot-Masei

by Rabbi Doug Alpert

For some reason a good deal of my time both within and outside of Torah has lately focused on land and borders. This week’s double portion, Mattot-Masei provides us with the most extensive, but certainly not the only delineation of the borders for HaAretz-the land of Israel in our Written Torah.

This started for me back in Parashat Shelah-Lekha with the narrative regarding the twelve spies who scouted the land. Within my weekly clergy interfaith Torah study group the conversation shifted from the usual emphasis Read More >

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:53:41-05:00July 29, 2022|

Parashat Pinhas 5782

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Pinhas

by Rabbi Jeffrey Segelman

In Parashat Pinhas, the formal ceremony of leadership succession takes place. Upon being reminded (as if he needed to be reminded) that he would not enter the land, Moses calls upon God to appoint a new leader. By appealing to God as the “Elohei HaRuhot” – the God of all spirits – the rabbis explain that Moses wants to make sure that God understands that the new leader must be able to tolerate the different opinions and personalities of the people. (See Rashi to Numbers 27:16 Read More >

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:53:52-05:00July 22, 2022|

Parashat Balak 5782

In this week's D'var Torah, Rabbi Matthew Goldstone encourages us to see deeper meaning behind Bilaam’s blessings.

By Rabbi Matthew Goldstone, PhD|2022-07-29T11:41:57-04:00July 14, 2022|

Parashat Hukkat

In this week's D'var Torah, Rabbi Ariann Weitzman shows how Parashat Hukkat provides a recipe for communal care that is not a burden to individuals but is a shared obligation across the community.

By Rabbi Ariann Weitzman|2022-07-29T11:42:29-04:00July 8, 2022|

Parashat Hukkat 5782

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Hukkat
By Rabbi Ariann Weitzman (’11)

The most frustrating thing about cleaning is that things don’t stay clean and you’re going to have to do it all over again. The second most frustrating thing about cleaning is that it’s hard to do without winding up filthy yourself. This is exactly the paradox of the ritual of the red heifer. As we read at the beginning of parashat Hukkat, the only way to cleanse the ritual impurity attached to caring for or touching the dead is to bring impurity to a wide circle of others. In order to produce the “waters of lustration,” which are used to ritually purify those who have been in contact with the dead, a perfectly unblemished red heifer, who has never had the experience of being yoked, must be slaughtered and burned to Read More >

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:54:21-05:00July 8, 2022|

Parashat Korah 5782

When the Law is Unjust, We Break the Law
By Rabbi Lizz Goldstein (’16)

Last week, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, withdrawing the already paltry federal protections on abortion rights. Many states already had trigger laws in place and abortion access became unavailable to thousands of people overnight. Congress had 50 years to codify federal legislation to allow reproductive freedom throughout the country. A leak of the current Supreme Court decision broke out about six weeks ago, allowing time for the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government, dominated by people who claim to support reproductive freedom and choice, to react before the decision was formally handed down. And yet, no preparations were made for this moment. Very few elected officials did anything to protect us, but so many were ready to wail and moan with us and ask for our votes and money as soon as the SCOTUS decision was Read More >

By Rabbi Lizz Goldstein|2022-11-09T11:28:52-05:00June 30, 2022|

Parashat Shelah 5782

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.

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:54:43-05:00June 24, 2022|

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

Programs of Study

Learn more about…

Programs of Study

Learn more about…

Parashat Eikev 5782

ABOUT

LIBRARY

JOIN US

PROGRAMS OF STUDY