Parashat Beha’alotekha

God Expands the Torah
A D’var Torah for Rarashat Beha’alotekha
By Rabbi Irwin Huberman (’11)

Can we incorporate within our personal theology a divine and all-knowing God, who agrees to change the laws of Torah upon human request?

It’s an interesting question that emerges both in this week’s Torah portion – Beha’alotekha – (when you light the lamps) and later in the Book of Numbers, where the Daughters of Zelofhad ask God to amend the Torah’s laws surrounding land ownership.

In this week’s parashah, an interesting interaction occurs between Moses and a group of men, who come in contact with a dead body.

According to the Torah, those who become ritually impure (tameh) through contact with a corpse are not permitted to participate in the Passover sacrifice. But, the men want to complete the commandment.

They take their case to Moses: “Impure though we are by reason of a corpse, why must we be debarred from presenting the Lord’s Read More >

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2022-07-29T11:24:26-04:00June 12, 2020|

Parashat Naso 5780

When It Really Is About The Patriarchy
A D’var Torah for Parshat Naso
By Rabbi David Markus

Dedicated to the family of George Floyd, and peaceful change makers everywhere.

I open this week’s Torah portion (Naso), and I cringe. I read of ancient ways to serve in the Mishkan – all tribal men of a certain age. I read of Sotah trials, humiliating women to placate jealous husbands. Even the Threefold Blessing, phrased free of gender, was harnessed to aim first at Kohanim – only men (B.T. Hullin 49a, Rashi Num. 6:27).

Thankfully we’ve become adept at redeeming Torah from patriarchy. Some see Torah as socially developmental, meeting our ancestors only just a bit ahead of their Bronze Age context so that Torah would be practical. We might note that Torah itself responded to the Sotah trial by restoring an innocent Sotah woman’s power: a false-accuser husband never could divorce her (Deut. 22:19). We Read More >

By Rabbi David Evan Markus|2022-07-29T11:24:27-04:00June 4, 2020|

Shavuot 5780

A D’var Torah for Shavuot
By Rabbi Heidi Hoover (’11)

Most of us experience moments of transcendence in our lives. A moment of transcendence could be the first moment you realized you were in love with your partner. Or the way you felt at the birth of a child, or the first time you brought home a child you adopted. Perhaps it is a moment of communing with nature—realizing the power and beauty of the ocean, or climbing a mountain, or realizing the vastness of the universe while looking at the moon and the stars. Perhaps it is a religious moment—finding a new truth in the Torah, or suddenly realizing that a prayer speaks directly to you. It could be a big life moment or a small one, but you remember it because it impacted your soul, your spiritual self. It was a connection to something. I would call it a connection to God; Read More >

By Rabbi Heidi Hoover|2022-07-29T11:24:27-04:00May 28, 2020|

Parashat Bemidbar 5780

Twelve Tribes Meditation for Parashat Bemidbar
A D’var Torah for Parashat Bemidbar
By Rabbi Jill Hammer

Parashat Bemidbar describes how the twelve tribes encamp around the Tabernacle and the priests: three tribes on each side, with the Levites at the center. This sacred geometry is reminiscent of the months of the year and also of the four directions and seasons—twelve is three times four, a combination of two powerful numbers. One way to take in the Torah of Parashat Bemidbar is to explore the encampment of the twelve tribes through meditation.

Sefer Yetzirah, the Book of Creation, is a Jewish mystical work written between the 6th and 9th century CE. Sefer Yetzirah describes how God uses the Hebrew letters to create the world. Twelve of the letters are associated with twelve human faculties, and also with the twelve months. Later Jewish sources associate each month and faculty with a tribe as well. In one version of the correspondences, offered by translator Aryeh Read More >

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2022-07-29T11:24:27-04:00May 22, 2020|

Parashat Behar / Behukkotai 5780

Lessons of the Sabbatical for a Time of Pandemic
A D’var Torah for Parashat Bahar / Behukkotai
By Rabbi Len Levin

“Six years you may sow your field…and gather in the yield. But in the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath of the Lord…You may eat whatever the land will produce during its sabbath.” (Leviticus 25:3–6)

What is the proper balance of work and rest in the Bible? Can the institutions of the Sabbath and the sabbatical year inspire us with ideas for dealing with the disruption of that balance in the current health crisis?

In the biblical creation story, man and woman were originally put in a garden where they could live off the fruit of the trees that grew naturally. By their sin, they were expelled from this paradise into the real world where people must earn bread by the sweat of their brows ( Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2022-07-29T11:24:27-04:00May 15, 2020|

Parashiyot Behar-Behukotai 5780

Lessons of the Sabbatical for a Time of Pandemic
A D’var Torah for Parashat Bahar / Behukkotai
By Rabbi Len Levin

“Six years you may sow your field…and gather in the yield. But in the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath of the Lord…You may eat whatever the land will produce during its sabbath.” (Leviticus 25:3–6)

What is the proper balance of work and rest in the Bible? Can the institutions of the Sabbath and the sabbatical year inspire us with ideas for dealing with the disruption of that balance in the current health crisis?

In the biblical creation story, man and woman were originally put in a garden where they could live off the fruit of the trees that grew naturally. By their sin, they were expelled from this paradise into the real world where people must earn bread by the sweat of their brows ( Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2022-07-29T11:24:27-04:00May 15, 2020|

Parashat Emor 5780

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

A well-known midrash tells of Rabbi Yehoshua bemoaning the destruction of the Temple – “the place that atoned for Israel’s sins” – to his master, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai. Rabbi Yohanan comforts his disciple with the observation that “we have another means of gaining atonement: through deeds of loving kindness, as it is written (Hosea 6:6) ‘I desire deeds of loving kindness, not sacrifice.’” (Avot d’Rabbi Natan 4:5)

Comforting as this midrash might be, it reduces the Temple to a single function: atoning for sin. Yet were this really its primary purpose, why are prayers for the Temple’s restoration so ubiquitous in our liturgy? As one who has ever uttered those prayers with discomfort, I think we need to look more deeply for the answer.

For many of us, our discomfort with the idea of the restoration of the Temple goes beyond our reticence about Read More >

By Bruce Alpert|2022-07-29T11:24:27-04:00May 8, 2020|

Parashat Aharei Mot Kedoshim

A D’var Torah for Parashat Aharei Mot Kedoshim
By Cantor Sandy Horowitz (’14)

Parashat Kedoshim consists of a series of commandments which God wants Moses to convey to the Israelite people. As is God’s wont, God has a lot to say as the verses in this parashah jump from one topic to another– keep My sabbaths; when you reap your harvest, leave the corners of your field for the poor and stranger; do not curse the deaf; do not cross-breed your cattle; and so on. These are a few of the laws which appear just in the first two aliyot of the Torah reading. Imagine how the Israelites might have listened to this series of commandments while trying to remember it all; it must have felt overwhelming, and perhaps a bit confusing. What harvest? What stranger?

Then we arrive at the beginning of the third aliyah: “When you come into the land and plant Read More >

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2022-07-29T11:24:28-04:00May 1, 2020|

Parashat Tazria Metzora 5780

The Torah and Social Distancing
A D’var Torah for Parashat Tazria Metzora
By Rabbi Irwin Huberman (’10)

Perhaps there has never been a better time to embrace — with open arms — a section of the Torah, which most years we tend to turn away from.

The double portion of Tazria-Metzora speaks about those bodily conditions that often make us socially and physically uncomfortable: Rashes, skin diseases, bodily purification and leprosy, to name a few.

But isn’t it remarkable, how, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, this week’s Parashah comes to life probably in a way it never has in our lifetime?

During this unprecedented time, we can’t help but marvel at how our tradition appeared concerned with public health, long before the field of medicine became a sophisticated practice.

Indeed, our tradition recognizes the importance of testing, treatment, quarantine, evaluation and re-integration as part of a communal approach to healing.

During this time of quarantine and social distancing, the Read More >

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2022-07-29T11:24:28-04:00April 24, 2020|

Parashat Shemini 5780

“Silent” Tribute to the Dead of Covid-19
A D’var Torah for Parashat Shemini
By Rabbi David Markus

Spiritually speaking, what should we say amidst 120,000 covid-19 deaths? Surely there must be something we should say, some right response – right?

If these questions land a gut punch, if they rouse gnawing emptiness, if they jumble emotions and singe the soul, then we might just barely begin to imagine Aaron in this week’s paresha (Shemini). How could the High Priest of Israel lose his sons Nadav and Avihu to divine fire, and then respond with silence – vayidom Aharon (Leviticus 10:3)?

This timely question, about one of Torah’s most difficult texts, touches our core both as individuals and as spiritual leaders – especially now.

But let’s be clear: our question’s covid-19 context isn’t so unusual in a global sense. According to the United Nations, over 165,000 people die every day from all causes (e.g. age, illnesses both acute and Read More >

By Rabbi David Evan Markus|2022-07-29T11:24:28-04:00April 17, 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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