Parashat Vayishlah 5781

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What Goes Around
A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayishlah
By Rabbi Michael Rothbaum (’06)

The aphorism “what goes around comes around” is so ingrained in the English language as to seem timeless. I’d always assumed it was from a Shakespearean sonnet, or maybe one of Aesop’s fables.

But a little Googling reveals it to be of a much more recent vintage. The earliest citation I found was from an African American newspaper, The Pittsburgh Courier, in 1952. Today it refers to getting one’s comeuppance — and not in a good way. But in what appears to be the first time the phrase appeared in print, columnist Nat D. Williams uses it to express a positive sentiment. Williams writes with pride of African American athletes finally getting their chance to prove their ability in the Olympics and in Major League Baseball, offering Black spectators “a surge of pride in seeing the keen minds Read More >

By Rabbi Michael Rothbaum|2022-07-29T11:24:23-04:00December 4, 2020|

Parashat Vayeitzei 5781

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Noticing the Good (and the Bad)
A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayeitzei
By Rabbi Lizz Goldstein (’16)

I always feel a bit conflicted at this time of year, and in some ways this year’s necessary changes have alleviated some of my discomfort around celebrating Thanksgiving. I love this day for food and family, for gratitude and the opportunity to share all that we have, but sometimes it’s impossible to ignore that this holiday is based on a white-washed version of history that in reality led to genocide. It’s one thing to take the time out of our busy lives to just enjoy a pause for hakarat hatov – noticing the good. But is it necessary in a time of physical shut down and overwhelming flow of information of the good and bad in this country?

I recall some years ago, Read More >

By Rabbi Lizz Goldstein|2022-07-29T11:24:23-04:00November 27, 2020|

Parashat Toledot 5781

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

Parashat Toledot traces the arc of the patriarch Isaac’s life from the beginnings of his married life to his old age. Along the way, seemingly more energetic actors plot and scheme around him: his wife Rebecca, his sons Jacob and Esau, even his neighbors, the Philistines. Isaac’s primary virtue appears to be naivety.

Some readers find Isaac’s character to be one of extended adolescence, always traveling in his parents’ footsteps, repeating the steps of their lives, and never venturing forth on his own. One might say that he has a failure to launch. Instead of going out to find a wife, one is brought to him. Instead of leaving the land of Canaan in time of famine to improve his fate, he stays close to home. He moves Read More >

By Rabbi Ariann Weitzman|2022-07-29T11:24:23-04:00November 19, 2020|

Parashat Hayei Sarah 5781

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Hayei Sarah
By Rabbi Doug Alpert (’12)For years I have worked with a number of organizations whose mission is centered around fighting racism. The Missouri branch of the NAACP, the Missouri coordinating committee for the Poor Peoples Campaign, the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity in my hometown of Kansas City. So it is with much anticipation that I will participate in this year’s AJR Fall Retreat (albeit virtually) focusing on race and racism.

Much of the work in fighting racism is to wrestle with a sense of our own identity and community. Who is in and who is out, or, to coin a cultural moniker of Jewish identity that came up on day one of the retreat; who is a “member of the tribe.” (This reference had always struck me as a relic of Read More >

By Doug Alpert|2022-07-29T11:24:24-04:00November 13, 2020|

Parashat Lekh Lekha 5781

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Like Terah or Abraham?
A D’var Torah for Parashat Lekh Lekha
By Rabbi Marc Rudolph (’04)

Today I am going to do something quite audacious. I am going to disagree with one of the greatest sages who ever lived! I am going to take issue with one of the greatest Jewish minds of the 20^th century — The Hafetz Hayyim!

Ever since Ora Prouser introduced us to his collection of weekly Torah Commentary, “Al HaTorah”, I have turned to this collection for study and inspiration. For this week’s Torah portion he focuses on this verse, “Abraham took his family and his possessions and went forth to go to the Land of Caanan – and he came to the land of Caanan” (Gen. 12:5). He compares this to a verse about Terah, Abraham’s father, that we read last week. There the Torah says, “Terah Read More >

By Rabbi Marc Rudolph|2022-07-29T11:24:24-04:00October 30, 2020|

Parashat Noah 5781

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Noah
By Rabbi Enid Lader (’10)

Our Torah opens with an organized story of creation – a place for everything and everything in its place. Each step of the way, the natural world is tov – good. And when it is filled with living creatures and human beings, it is tov me’od – very good. As we end chapter one and begin the second chapter of Bereishit, all seems right with the world. But “very good” or even “good” does not sustain us.

We have inquiring minds, and left to our own devices, we will seek out our own answers, rather than follow specific directions. Yet, unless there is some kind of structure in place, something that helps guide us in making good (or even very good) decisions, where will our own answers lead us – Read More >

By Rabbi Enid C. Lader|2022-07-29T11:24:24-04:00October 23, 2020|

Parashat Bereishit 5781

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Bereishit
By Rabbi Jeffrey Segelman

The story of creation. Though the Torah does not tell us, we might ask: Why did God create in the first place? Perhaps because God was lonely. Not ordinary loneliness – existential loneliness. God existed, but as long as nothing else did, God’s existence had no meaning. So God set out to create something – someone – with whom God could have a relationship – a relationship which later God will call love. God created in search of love.

With the most unusual holiday season behind us, and an extraordinarily stressful few months ahead of us, it might be wise to embrace some of the lessons of God’s search for love.

Our Kabbalistic tradition wisely points out that God’s first step in creating love was to make Godself smaller. On one level, that was a wink Read More >

By Rabbi Jeffrey Segelman|2022-07-29T11:24:24-04:00October 16, 2020|

Parashat Ha’azinu and Yom Kippur 5781

Yom Kippur, Shofar, and Freedom
A D’var Torah for Parashat Ha’azinu and Yom Kippur
By Rabbi Irwin Huberman (’10)

Why is it that a holy day which is supposed to be “awesome” has a reputation for many as being “awful?”

The 10 day period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is known as the Days of Awe – a time to reflect upon our lives, let go of the old, and chart an improved life path.

Yet, as we initially reflect upon Yom Kippur, so many of us tend to focus upon the discomfort of fasting. In many ways, fasting is counterintuitive to the way we currently live. We can watch television or access the Internet 24 hours a day. Shopping options are constantly available.

Yet, on Yom Kippur, while every instinct prompts us to open the fridge or cupboard to alleviate our hunger or thirst, we are told to push against that impulse – and to refrain from these, and Read More >

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2022-07-29T11:24:24-04:00September 25, 2020|

Parashat Nitzavim – Vayeilekh 5780

Tomorrow’s Giants On Our Shoulders
A D’var Torah for Parashat Nitzavim-Vayeilekh
By Rabbi David Markus

We stand on the shoulders of giants. Much that we have, much that we are becoming, are harvests of trees our ancestors planted. We inherit their shalshelet – their spiritual and practical causation both wise and unwise, healthy and not – along with what they received from their ancestry. Legacy courses through us as history’s heartbeat. We and how we live our lives are the next beat, the eternal river’s next bend on its endless flow.

So of course, we stand on yesterday’s shoulders. But how about tomorrow’s giants on our shoulders? If we really felt the future on our shoulders, would we live differently?

Torah’s Nitzavim-Vayeilekh asks that question directly. The Covenant is made with “everyone standing here today,” and also “everyone not standing here today” (Deut. 29:13-14). “Everyone not standing here today” are future generations (Rashi, Read More >

By Rabbi David Evan Markus|2022-07-29T11:24:24-04:00September 11, 2020|

Parashat Ki Tavo 5780

A D’var Torah for Parashat Ki Tavo
By Rabbi Heidi Hoover (’11)

In the megahit musical Hamilton, there is a song with the repeated line, “Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrMkdZtqiVI). The way that we know who we are and where we come from is through stories. Sometimes we call them myths; sometimes we call them history. There’s more overlap between those two than we’d like to admit. It is impossible to include every detail of something that’s happened in a story, so every single time we tell a story, we make choices about what to put in and what to leave out. And indeed, who tells your story can determine whether you are hero or villain, victim or victor—in fact, whether you are remembered at all.

Sometimes stories are codified in an attempt to shape identity, to tie everyone into a community through agreement on a shared story. Politicians Read More >

By Rabbi Heidi Hoover|2022-07-29T11:24:24-04:00September 4, 2020|

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

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

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