Yom Kippur

By Rabbi Enid Lader “As you are able, please stand for the Kol Nidre Service…” Kol Nidre…Such powerful words. Words many of us might not understand, but powerful nonetheless. Powerful through the connections… and the feelings… and the memories they invoke. As we enter through the gates of Yom Kippur, Kol Nidre is there almost like an usher, welcoming and reminding us that this is it – the serious thinking and the self-reflection are about to begin. Kol Nidre has played many roles in my experiences of entering into Yom Kippur. At each stage of my life it has had a new and special meaning. Read More >

By Rabbi Enid C. Lader|2011-10-05T08:09:57-04:00October 5, 2011|

Rosh HaShanah

Connecting with God

By Marian Kleinman

In the story of the sacrifice of Isaac we read on Rosh HaShanah, the sacrifice asked of Abraham can be explored as symbolic of relationships such as the relationship between ourselves and God.

In today’s society, individuals are frowned upon or shunned if they tell others they are “hearing God” or hearing voices. In some of our most popular literature, this attitude is prevalent. For example, in Rowley’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Hermione, one of Harry’s sidekicks, warns Harry, “Even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn’t a good sign.”

For at least one week this past May, there was much conversation and discussion. Many people wondered and worried that the world was going to end on May 21 at 6:30 am. This was all because an evangelical broadcaster spoke and the media spread his words! If people weren’t worried, they were laughing and when Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-09-26T08:15:45-04:00September 26, 2011|

Parashat Nitzavim-VaYelekh

By Rabbi Robert Freedman

Two phrases vie for the honor of being the most important in the Torah, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and “Humanity was made in the divine image.” Humbly I’d like to nominate another for one of the top ten. The verse is, “For the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart to do it” (Deuteronomy 30:14). No other verse in Torah offers as strong reassuring certainty that we need not be confused or despairing about where to find life’s instruction manual.

At one time Moses protested that he was not a man of words, that for him speech was difficult and his lips were not fluent. But forty years later he preached the words of Deuteronomy. Throughout a full day he held forth, concluding by saying that the thing, the commandment, was not too far away or too difficult, “rather it is in your Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-09-22T10:23:07-04:00September 22, 2011|

Parashat Ki Tavo

By Rabbi Jaron Matlow

Lately I have been focusing on Theodicy, the problem of evil in the world. Over the last several years, I have experienced a number of health issues that left me on total disability. In Parashat Ekev, we are told that if we follow God s Torah, God œwill remove all sickness from you (Deut. 7:15). God states further œI am your Healer (Exodus 15:26). So naturally I ask myself the question, œIf I m suffering all these things, am I being punished, and given the suffering of others, are they being punished? Have we not followed Torah and Halakha sufficiently?

Our Parashah, Ki Tavo, is noted for the Tokhehot, the warnings and curses, if we don t follow Torah. In it we find Yak kha YHVH bishhin Mitzrayim uvat horim uvagarav uvehares asher lo tukhal l heirafei. Yak kha YHVH b shiga on u v ivaron u v timhon leivav, œGod will strike you with Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-09-14T12:39:38-04:00September 14, 2011|

Parashat Ki Tetze

September 11^th: Remembering to Forget, Forgetting to Remember

By Rabbi Regina L. Sandler-Phillips

“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way, in your going-out from Egypt….erase the memory of Amalek from under the heavens; do not forget!” (Deuteronomy 25:17, 19).

As we approach the 10^th anniversary of the tragedies that shook our city, our nation and our world, the final words of this week’s Torah portion are stark: Evil can be personified, and Amalek âˆ’ the personification of evil throughout the ages âˆ’ must be destroyed.

Yet questions present themselves. How do we “Remember” to “erase…memory”? If memory is erased, how can we “not forget”? And how do we understand exactly “what Amalek did”?

In the original narrative, we are told only that “Amalek came and fought with Israel” (Exodus 17:8). As the story is retold in this week’s portion, we learn of Amalek that “he tailed you, all the weakened-ones behind you; and you, weary Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-09-08T12:53:31-04:00September 8, 2011|

Parashat Shoftim

Ki ata ba el-ha’aretz, asher Adonai Elohekha notein lekha-lo tilmad la’asot, keto’avot hagoyim haheim, “When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations” (Deut 18:9).

In Parashat Shoftim, the land of which Moses speaks is the Promised Land, and his warning is specified in subsequent verses. We are to stay away from human sacrificing, divination, soothsayers, enchanters, sorcerers, charmers, wizards, and necromancers. There are no shortcuts and no special intermediaries.

Moses then continues his teaching: Tamim tihyeh, im Adonai Elohekha,”Thou shalt be whole-hearted with the Lord thy God” (Deut. 18:13). We are to be “whole-hearted” with Adonai our God. The Hertz commentary (p.827) cites Rashi’s interpretation of verse 13: “Walk with Him whole-heartedly and hope in Him. Pry not into the veiled future, but accept whatever lot befalls you. Then will you be His people and His Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-09-06T11:50:37-04:00September 6, 2011|

Parashat Re’eh

By Rabbi Dorit Edut and Cantor Liat Pelman

A Dialogue on Blessings vs. “Curses“

Dorit: As we approach the month of Elul next week and thoughts of Rosh HaShanah are not far off, we are confronted by a verse in this week’s Torah portion:

“See this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God….” (Deut.11:26-28, NewJPS translation).

How do we understand this verse really? Is this loving, all-powerful God also One who “curses” humans?

Liat: I am so grateful that you chose to put the word “curses” in quotation marks. Reading the Torah literally, as in this verse, is a turn-off for me; I relate to the saying: Life is hard, but God is good-all the time.

Dorit: Let’s look Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-08-31T11:52:16-04:00August 31, 2011|

Parashat VaEthanan

By Cantor Marcia Lane

In this second parashah in the book of Deuteronomy Moses continues his long death-bed peroration to the Israelite people. He reiterates the division of the land to the tribes, restates (with minor differences) the Aseret HaDibrot “ commonly called the Ten Commandments “ and states the most primary faith-statement of Judaism, the Shema. Here, in one neat package, is the legal and emotional basis for Jewish thought and practice. Creed and deed, paired in the same parashah.

In the Torah portion, Moshe tells the people of the dangers of worshipping anything other than God. œFor your own sake, be very careful “ since you saw no shape when Adonai, your God spoke to you in fire at Horeb “ not to make for yourself a sculpted image. ¦ (Deut. 4:15-16). And this is such a potent theme for Moshe that he says again, œTake care not to forget the covenant Adonai Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-08-10T22:24:56-04:00August 10, 2011|

Parashat D’varim

Vision, Lamentation, and the Question of “How?”

By Rabbi Regina L. Sandler-Phillips

The Shabbat on which the first portion of Deuteronomy is chanted from the Torah each year is called Shabbat Hazon ”the œSabbath of Vision. Its name comes most directly from the accompanying haftarah or prophetic reading, which proclaims “The vision of Isaiah, son of Amotz, which he envisioned over Judah and Jerusalem… (Isaiah 1:1).

At first glance, the œvision of these paired Torah and haftarah readings seems to be one of impending doom more than anything else. Each reading anticipates the imminent arrival of Tisha b’Av, our Jewish day of tragedy and mourning, during which we read the book that is called Lamentations in English and Eikha in Hebrew. Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-08-03T23:37:50-04:00August 3, 2011|

Parashat Mattot

By Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

Finding Our Way Out of Helplessness

Peep! Peep! Peep! The brood of baby chicks – domesticated or wild I do not know – was scurrying and moving en mass, with loose chicks running off in every direction, peeping. They kept scurrying into the street, a busy street, and it was dark out. Desperately I tried to shoo the little guys onto the sidewalk. But they kept constantly moving back and forth and this way and that way, all the time peeping, peeping, peeping. And no mother in sight. I was terribly distressed. I didn’t want them to get run over. But I didn’t know what to do! Finally, seeing the unending nature of trying to keep them off the street, I left the chicks behind and went inside.

In this week’s parashah, God tells Moses, “Avenge the Israelite people on the Midianites” (Num. 31:1). So the Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-07-21T12:16:27-04:00July 21, 2011|

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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