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|

Parashat Pinhas

By Peter Levy

Parashat Pinhas

My wife, Amy, and I just returned from opening day at the URJ Eisner Camp in Great Barrington,Â Massachusetts. It was wonderful to see kids gathering together and greeting each other after months of separation. They had kept in touch via Facebook and other social media over the winter, but the physical proximity was what made it special. It was heart-warming to see the campers hugging each other in greeting.However, we also learned about something called a “sideways hug.”Â Apparently this is the proper way for counselors to hug the campers in order to avoid physical contact that might be construable is “inappropriate.” Yes, physical contact is potentially taboo and needs to be handled delicately.

This is in contrast to our parashah this week, Pinhas.Â Here, in Numbers 27:18, Moses is told to ordain Joshua, “v’samakhta et yad’kha alav“, “and lay your hand on him.” The Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-07-14T12:18:20-04:00July 14, 2011|

Parashat Balak

By Hazzan Marcia Lane

In our parashah, we have the story of Balak, king of Moav, who sends emissaries promising wealth to a certain prophet, Bilaam son of Be’or, if Bilaam will curse the Israelites. We know Bilaam is a real prophet because the Torah says, “those who you bless are truly blessed and those you curse are cursed.” (Num. 22:6) That is, Bilaam‘s prophecies come to pass. Not only that, but we know Bilaam is on the up-and-up because he says – repeatedly – to these messengers, “I can only do what Adonai tells me.” In fact, Bilaam says, no matter how much gold and silver Balak gives, “I can do nothing small or great contrary to the word of Adonai, my God.” How extraordinary that Bilaam clearly understands that his power, his ability to bless or curse, comes directly from Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-07-07T09:42:26-04:00July 7, 2011|

Parashat Hukkat

By Simon Rosenbach

Many years ago, a friend proposed that we write a book: Management Lessons From the Torah. We never wrote the book, but this week’s parashah provides a fascinating management lesson. It involves the waters of Merivah.

We all know the story. The Israelites encamped at Kadesh and, as usual, started to complain. This time, they complained that here they were, stuck in the desert, and there was no water.

As usual, Moses went to the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, to consult God. As usual, God provided instructions. In this case, God told Moses to order a rock to produce water, and it would. Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-07-05T14:33:15-04:00July 5, 2011|

Parashat Korach

By Rabbi Jo David

Korah Wasn’t Wrong?

For the last six months I’ve been teaching a comparative religion course – “The Religious Experience” – at Berkeley College in Manhattan. The student body at Berkeley is predominantly black, Hispanic, and Christian, with a large number of foreign students, many from Africa. There are very few Jews on staff. Few students have ever met a Jewish person, not to mention a rabbi or a female rabbi! This is my ideal rabbinate – putting myself in settings where “no Jew has gone before” and introducing Judaism to people for whom Judaism is an unknown quantity.

This is challenging territory. Inevitably there are a few religious Christians in my class who are eager to show off their knowledge of Judaism and to bond with me over our “shared” faith. It’s a tricky business to explain without disenchanting Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-06-23T16:12:13-04:00June 23, 2011|

Parashat Sh’lah L’kha

In this week’s parashah we read about the spies, twelve tribal leaders selected by Moses for a forty day reconnaissance mission to report on the nature of the Promised Land.

After traversing wilderness and mountainous terrain, the men returned and described a land “flowing with milk and honey” (Num. 13:27). With hyperbole and distortion, ten of the spies also reported how the land devours its inhabitants, the people are exceedingly fierce, and the cities fortified, populated with giants (Num. 13:28, 32-33). This news bulletin evoked intense fear among the Israelites, nearly catalyzing a popular revolt.

In understanding Torah, I search for an inner, psycho-spiritual dimension. This approach is comparable to the allegorical interpretations of Philo, and the Hasidic Masters who tend to psychologize elements and characters in Torah.

The Passover Haggadah reads: Hayav Adam li’rot et atzmo k’ilu hu yatza miMitzraim– it is Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-06-16T15:39:35-04:00June 16, 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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