Parashat Ki Tissa 5786

Found in Translation

A D’var Torah for Parashat Ki Tissa
Rabbi Wendy Love Anderson

The seven standard Shabbat morning aliyot of Parashat Ki Tissa are always unbalanced: the first and second aliyah are disproportionately long so that the second aliyah – traditionally assigned to a Levite – can encompass all 47 embarrassing verses of the Golden Calf incident, Israel’s greatest mistake at that point in its history, and a story in which only the Levites come out looking good. But the Golden Calf story was creating problems for Torah readers long before the standardization of an annual Torah-reading cycle. Mishnah Megillah 4:10 includes it in a list of shameful or confusing Biblical passages, some of which are read aloud in Hebrew and translated into Aramaic for general comprehension, some of which are read but not translated, and some of which are neither read nor translated. The Golden Calf incident is unique in that the Read More >

Parashat Ki Tissa 5786Marisa Amith2026-03-02T12:26:10-05:00

Parashat Tetzaveh 5786

Gemstones and Judgements

A D’var Torah for Parashat Tetzaveh

By Rabbi Dorit Edut

Although the expression “Carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders” is attributed to the Greek god Atlas, I want to propose that it has a much earlier source: the wearing of the gemstone-studded breastplate by the Kohen Gadol, the High Priest, in the biblical Temple and Tabernacle. It was a physically weighty garment, but that was intentional since the High Priest wore this when turning to God in prayer for the whole Israelite community – a weighty responsibility indeed. It was made also to hold the Urim and Thummim, the special rods which would be used to receive a Divine answer to difficult problems or situations where human decision-making was stuck. But the Hebrew name for this breastplate – Hoshen Mishpat- refers to not only the importance of making clear decisions but also to atoning for the sin of perverting Read More >

Parashat Tetzaveh 5786Marisa Amith2026-02-23T14:21:08-05:00

Parashat Terumah -5786

Facing Each Other

A D’var Torah for Parashat Terumah

Rabbi Dr. Rachel Posner (AJR ’25)

This week the Israelites are given instructions for a monumental building project:

וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃

And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8)

The story of the Mishkan – our portable container for holiness – is told twice in the Bible: first as a set of instructions, a kind of how-to guide, and later as a description of how the Israelites carried the instructions out. This building project is the key element to becoming a community, not a disparate group of people but A People that beats with one heart.

What makes a project sacred? Sure, assembling those Kallax shelves or Kivik sofa might bring you closer together (or result in filing for divorce) – but is it holy work? Some building projects are ordinary. A few are holy. And some turn out to Read More >

Parashat Terumah -5786Marisa Amith2026-02-16T11:56:43-05:00

Parashat Mishpatim – Shabbat Shekalim – 5786

A D’var Torah for Parashat Mishpatim – Shabbat Shekalim

By Rabbi Anat Katzir

Reading the laws presented in the parashah this week was an opening to struggle with some of the discomfort caused by what feels like a gap of values between my world and the biblical one. It is through grappling with the reality of ancient history, and with the input from generations of Rabbinic leadership that followed, that I can see how behind the laws there are similar values and shared truths that needed to be redefined and amended through time and space. It is a lesson in context and adaptation of values over eras and cultures, and also a struggle with finding ways to overcome the gaps between Jewish communities of different interpretations, when it comes to understanding communal responsibilities and sharing the burdens of sustaining a modern-day state while finding guidance in ancient law.

When working with b-mitzvah students, the question Read More >

Parashat Mishpatim – Shabbat Shekalim – 5786Marisa Amith2026-02-09T13:46:34-05:00

Parashat Yitro 5786

K’Ish Ehad: Organizational Infrastructure as a Path to Unity

A D’var Torah for Parashat Yitro

By Rabbi Scott “Shalom” Klein

Parashat Yitro stands as the essential fulcrum of the Book of Exodus, marking the transition from a newly liberated population to a covenanted nation at the foot of Sinai. This portion offers a profound exploration of the nature of communal leadership, the ethics of delegation, and the radical openness required to receive the Divine law. By examining the structural wisdom of an outsider and the communal unity required for the Aseret HaDibrot, we find a timeless blueprint for the rabbinate, particularly for those serving in the pluralistic environments of the military or the intimate settings of small-town pulpits.

The Parashah begins with a singular focus on an outsider through the words “וַיִּשְׁמַע יִתְרוֹ”—”And Yitro heard” (Exodus 18:1). While the entire world heard of the Exodus, the Midrash in Zevahim 116a asks what specifically Yitro Read More >

Parashat Yitro 5786Marisa Amith2026-02-02T13:59:31-05:00

Parashat Beshallah 5786

Lighting the Way

A D’var Torah for Parashat Beshallah

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz (’14)

In our busy, often digital-driven lives, we tend to forget to pause and take note of the wonders of creation around us and above us. Yet, opportunities abound: when we pray the words from the morning liturgy “yotzer or u’vorei hoshekh” (“Creator of light and Fashioner of darkness”), we might pause and look out the window; when we are out at night, we could look up and take note of the phase of the moon, reflecting on its connection to the Hebrew month. Taking the time to watch the sun set can be a wondrous and profound experience – the sky slowly changing color as the sun gradually sets behind the horizon and disappears, and the colors continue to change until it is finally fully dark.

Often, we’re too involved in the business of our daily life to stop and take note. Read More >

Parashat Beshallah 5786Marisa Amith2026-01-26T17:50:30-05:00

Parashat Bo – 5786

Softening the Heart

A D’var Torah for Parashat Bo

By Rabba Kaya Stern-Kaufman (AJR ’11)

This week’s Torah portion, Bo, begins in the midst of the plagues against Egypt but with a clear distinction from the previous seven plagues. In last week’s parashah (Torah portion) we learn that despite the experience of each plague upon the land, animals and people of Egypt, Pharoah responds by hardening his heart to the plight of the Israelites and to Moses’ demands for them to leave Egypt. This week’s parashah begins with God’s declaration: והכבדתי את לבו – and I will harden his (Pharoah’s) heart. It appears as if God is tampering with Pharoah’s free will. This poses theological difficulties for most readers. I would like to suggest a different interpretation of these events that suggests the unfolding of a natural process.

We discover much about Pharoah’s heart in the previous parashah – vaeira. Six times we read the refrain Read More >

Parashat Bo – 5786Marisa Amith2026-01-19T11:28:20-05:00

Parashat Vaeira – 5786

A D’var Torah for Parashat Vaeira
Rabbi Wendy Love Anderson

Just A Number

At the beginning of Parashat Vaeira, the Torah detours from its ongoing Exodus narrative to provide genealogies for Moses and Aaron and recapitulate their divine appointment to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. At the very end of this digression, though, there’s an unexpected piece of information: “Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three, when they made their demand on Pharaoh” (Exod. 7:7).

What do Moses and Aaron’s ages have to do with the Exodus? A plausible academic theory is that this information was inserted in an effort to harmonize the details of Moses’ biography: while he has a wife and young children when God commissions him in Exodus 3-4, in the later books of the Torah it’s established that the Israelites have been wandering for forty years before Moses dies at age 120. But more traditional Jewish commentators assume that Read More >

Parashat Vaeira – 5786Marisa Amith2026-01-13T19:13:20-05:00

Parashat Shemot – 5786

The Burning Bush – The Thorny Entrance to Leadership’s Path

A D’var Torah for Parashat Shemot

By Rabbi Dorit Edut (AJR 2006)

As you enter my living room, a print of Chagall’s Moses and The Burning Bush greets you. It is a simply constructed painting, with a very bright colorful burning bush (oranges, reds, yellows) next to a kneeling figure of Moses, in a metallic blue robe, hand on his heart, and looking out at you with an amazed expression. Above the bush are the letters of the Tetragrammaton encircled, while a small green angelic figure waves downwards, and some random small sheep float off to one side. While Chagall grew up in a religious home in Vitebsk, Russia (now Belarus), he certainly adds his own interpretation to the Biblical narrative of this week’s portion, Shemot. Not only is Moses not hiding his face, but we see the karnei or, the rays or horns of Read More >

Parashat Shemot – 5786Marisa Amith2026-01-06T12:01:09-05:00

Parashat Vayehi – 5786

Blessing Our Children

A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayehi

By Rabbi Dr. Rachel Posner

In my new role as a congregational rabbi, I have the incredible honor of working with conversion students—people choosing Judaism. Yesterday I met with one of my students, Tom, who is nearing the culmination of the process and preparing to meet with the Beit Din. We met to talk about his choice of a Hebrew name. Tom decided to take the name Yaakov, because Jacob’s God-wrestling resonated deeply with him. Wonderful.

Once that question was resolved, I asked Tom to consider the names of his Jewish parents. In our tradition, after all, our name is never merely Jacob or Rachel. Every Jewish name includes the name of one’s parents—an acknowledgment of where we come from.

Traditionally, gerim assume the parental names of our first ancestors, Abraham and Sarah. I offered Tom the possibility that he might forgo that tradition in favor of honoring someone in Read More >

Parashat Vayehi – 5786Marisa Amith2025-12-30T09:47:57-05:00

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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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