Parashat Shofetim 5780

The Political Philosophy of Deuteronomy
A D’var Torah for Parashat Shofetim
By Rabbi Len Levin

Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel used to say: On three things does the world stand: On justice, on truth and on peace, as it is said: “execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates” (Avot 1:18 ).

These three principles—truth, justice, and peace—are like three legs of a stool. A three-legged stool is stable, but if any one of the three legs is removed, the stool cannot stand.

There are five laws in the portion Shofetim in which these principles of Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel are implied:

“Justice, justice you shall pursue”—a justice based on truth, without favoritism or bribery (Deuteronomy 16:18–20).

In matters of legal controversy, there shall be a supreme court to decide the law (Ibid. 17:8–13 ).

You may have a king, but he must have his own copy of the Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2022-07-29T11:24:25-04:00August 21, 2020|

Parashat Re’eh 5780

A D’var Torah for Parashat Re’eh
By Rabbi Bruce Alpert (’11)

“And you will rejoice before the Lord, your God, you and your son and your daughter and your man-servant and your maid-servant and Levite who is within your gates, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow that is among you.” (Deuteronomy 16:11)

I recently asked my teacher, Dr. Victoria Hoffer, why, when she published the first edition of her textbook Biblical Hebrew, she chose the above verse for the cover. She told me that, too often, students come to the study of Hebrew with a kind of grim seriousness. She wanted a verse that expressed the joy of learning and of studying the Bible in its original language.

Knowing that book cover as well as I do, the verse jumped out at me from this week’s parashah, Re’eh. It did so for reasons beyond familiarity; reasons similar to Dr. Hoffer’s. Our parashah too has a Read More >

By Bruce Alpert|2022-07-29T11:24:25-04:00August 13, 2020|

Parashat Eikev 5780

A D’var Torah for Parashat Eikev
By Cantor Sandy Horowitz (’14)

In an episode of the Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schultz, Linus tells his sister Lucy that he wants to be a doctor. She replies in her big-sister way, “You could never be a doctor, you know why? Because you don’t love mankind, that’s why!” To which Linus replies:

This seems to illustrate Moses’ feeling towards the Israelites in Parashat Eikev.

One can’t argue with his commitment to the Israelites as a people (“mankind”), while at the same time we experience his deep frustration with their behavior. As they prepare to enter the Promised Land, Moses’ words include a series of rebukes as he tells them, “You have been rebelling against the Lord since the day I have known you” (Deut. 9:24). He recounts their transgressions in detail – how they built a golden calf idol, and Read More >

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2022-07-29T11:24:25-04:00August 6, 2020|

Parashat Va’ethanan 5780

The Torah and Quarantine 15
A D’var Torah for Parashat Va’ethanan
By Rabbi Irwin Huberman (’10)

There is a term associated with the deadly Covid 19, which has been making its way within medical and nutritional circles.

It’s known as Quarantine 15 – referring to the fact that so many Americans have gained weight during the pandemic.

In May, the website WebMD conducted a poll of 900 readers, reporting that 47 percent of Americans had gained between seven and 20 pounds during the first two months of the Covid crisis.

Of those polled, about 72 percent reported they had been exercising less. About 70 per cent stated that they had been “stress eating,” often feeding their anxiety through “comfort foods.”

And this week, the British government launched a program encouraging its citizens to address obesity caused in part by isolation during the pandemic. Laws limiting the advertising of “junk food” are being considered.

What does this have to do with Read More >

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2022-07-29T11:24:25-04:00July 31, 2020|

Parashat Devarim 5780

Into and Through Tisha b’Av: Our Fragile Alchemy of “Why”
A D’var Torah for Parashat Devarim
By Rabbi David Markus

There’s gotta be a reason. What’s happening now must be a reaction to something that came before. Someone must be responsible: maybe me, maybe you, maybe all of us. Any God that is good and fair must have some purpose in all this – right?

We sense this yearning for “why” just under the surface. After all, there’s lots to explain, and mere natural explanations don’t always suffice. That’s why so many people, of all faiths, might seek and see divine purpose in most everything from covid to tornadoes.

The human psyche – that sacred alchemy of supernal light and stardust – naturally seeks explanation for life’s twists and turns. For every fairness or unfairness, victory or defeat, comfort or suffering, we’re wired to connect the dots of causation with some coherence. If we’re deeply honest, Read More >

By Rabbi David Evan Markus|2022-07-29T11:24:25-04:00July 24, 2020|

Parashat Mattot & Ma’sey 5780

A D’var Torah for Parashat Mattot
By Rabbi Matthew Goldstone

Our Torah portion this week teaches us not to promise what we cannot deliver: “If a person makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath imposing an obligation upon themself, they shall not break the pledge; they must carry out all that crossed their lips” (Num. 30:3). Despite the warning, many people make commitments that they do not end up fulfilling or give assurances for things they never intend to uphold. No wonder there is a strong tradition against taking oaths. We find this attitude in the rabbinic legal tradition when the major 16^th century code of law, the Shulhan Arukh, states “Do not be accustomed to making vows and whoever vows – even if they fulfill it – is called a wicked person and is called a sinner” (Yoreh Deah 203:1). And fulfilling an oath might be even Read More >

By Rabbi Matthew Goldstone, PhD|2022-07-29T11:24:26-04:00July 17, 2020|

Parashat Pinhas 5780

A D’var Torah for Parashat Pinhas
By Rabbi Jill Hammer

In Parashat Pinhas, five daughters, the daughters of one man, Tzelofhad, appear before Moshe, bringing a case. Their father has died. Each Israelite family is to be allotted land in Canaan when the people enter the land. However, because Tzelofhad has no son, he has not been allotted land. The women present the case that their father deserves a portion in the land: “Let not our father’s name be lost to his clan because he had no son! Give us a holding among our father’s kinsmen!” (Num. 27:4) Moshe brings this case before YHWH, and YHWH declares that “the plea of Tzelofhad’s daughters is just” and rules that if a man has no sons, his daughters may inherit, provided they marry men from within their own tribe (Num. 27:7-11). This caveat about the daughters’ marriage is put in place so that, when the women have Read More >

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2022-07-29T11:24:26-04:00July 10, 2020|

Parashat Hukkat – Balak 5780

A D’var Torah for Parashat Hukkat – Balak
By Rabbi Len Levin

We are reading two parshiyot this week, each rich in lessons. We can only present a few hors d’oeuvres here; enjoy the rest at your leisure!

* * *

The ritual of the red heifer raised many puzzles for the rabbis, to the point that they said that the wise king Solomon, frustrated in trying to solve them, gave up in despair and said: “All this I tested with wisdom, I thought I could fathom it, but it eludes me.” (Ecclesiastes 7:23; Pesikta Rabbati 14:1) The central mystery arises from the fact that it is a ritual for purification from contact with death. We are still struggling to understand the causes of death, which even now are evolving and mutating as we try to cope with them. A favorite question was: How is it that the ashes of the heifer are the Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2022-07-29T11:24:26-04:00July 2, 2020|

Parashat Korah 5780

A D’var Torah for Parashat Korah
By Rabbi Bruce Alpert (’11)

“The Torah of Adonai is perfect, reviving the soul,” reads the psalm (19:8). The word used here for perfection, temimah, implies completeness, but also simplicity, like a platonic ideal – something that exists in our minds but which can only be rendered in flawed representation here on earth. To change something that is perfect is to diminish it. Thus, the idea of perfection in revelation can lead one to a kind of fundamentalism that summarily rejects changes as thwarting, or at least diminishing, God’s will.

Yet, the Torah that is the Book of Numbers challenges this conception of perfection. In last week’s parashah, we learned that the Israelites did not know what to do with one who violated the Sabbath and needed Moses’s intervention to find out (Numbers 15:32-36). In the previous parashah, the Israelites challenged Moses over who was disqualified from offering the Pesach Read More >

By Bruce Alpert|2022-07-29T11:24:26-04:00June 26, 2020|

Parashat Shelah 5780

A D’var Torah for Parashat Shelah
By Cantor Sandy Horowitz (’14)

Leaders tend to behave in one of two ways. Some promote fear, often spreading lies which may be based on fears of their own; other leaders promote trust, offering hope for a future envisioned but not yet realized. Parashat Shelah tells the story of what can happen when leadership is fear-based.

It begins as twelve men are selected by Moses to scout out the promised land. These twelve are all machers in the community, one from each of the twelve tribes, whose names and lineage are listed in the text. Their mission is to gather information about the land and its inhabitants. The Torah reading describes how they find huge clusters of grapes, as well as pomegranates and figs – indications of fertile land and good produce. Then we read, “And they returned from searching the land after forty days” (Num. 13:25). There are Read More >

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2022-07-29T11:24:26-04:00June 19, 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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