Parashat Lekh L’kah

At a recent teacher enhancement seminar at the Seattle Jewish Federation, the host asked us to consider this text from Parashat Lekh L’kha (Gen. 12:1-3):

Vayomer Hashem el Avram, lekh l’kha mei’artzekha umimolad’t’kha umibeit avikha el Ha’Aretz asher ar’eka. V’e’es’kha l’goi gadol va’avarekh’kha v’agad’lah sh’mekha, veh’yei b’rakhah. Va’avar’kha m’varakhekha um’kalelkha a’or, v’nivr’khu v’kha kol mish’p’hot ha’adamah.

Hashem said to Avram, go for yourself, from your land, and your birthplace, and your father’s house; to the Land which I will show you. I will make of you a great people, I will bless you and make your name great; and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse the one who curses you; and all the families of the land will bless themselves through you.

The host asked us to work with hevrutah (study partners) and explore this text for Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-10-29T07:41:36-04:00October 29, 2009|

This coming Shabbat, October 24, hundreds of thousands of people in 158 countries around the globe will be participating in the International Day of Climate Action. They will try to convince world leaders to craft policies to help bring atmospheric concentrations of CO2 down to 350 parts per million-the figure that scientists say is the safe upper limit for CO2 in the atmosphere, the amount that will enable life to continue to thrive on the planet.

While the folks at 350.org, the organizers for the event, did not have a Jewish calendar in front of them when they determined the date for what will be the largest ecological event in the world’s history, it is an uncanny coincidence that they chose the moment that we Jews read in our annual Torah cycle, Parashat Noah. The Noahstory, more than any other in the Torah, proclaims a profound ecological message Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-10-20T19:06:44-04:00October 20, 2009|

Parashat Bereshit

By Miriam Herscher

One Jewish year and Torah reading cycle closes and one Jewish year and Torah cycle begins…

In synagogues this coming Shabbat we read together the very first parashah of the very first book of our beloved Torah: our guide and charter for our human mission in the Universe.

The chapter opens with the familiar and commanding words: Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve’et ha’aretz, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” “Time has not diminished the power or the majesty of the familiar biblical account of the creation of the world, nor has familiarity dulled its impact.” (Etz Hayim) These words are awesome, magical, riveting.

And so begins the reading…

My favorite verses in this parashah are 1:3-4: “Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness” each one to reign in the Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-10-13T20:44:10-04:00October 13, 2009|

Shemini Atzeret

A Meaning in the 21st Century
By Julius Rabinowitz

This coming Shabbat we celebrate the holiday of Shemini Atzeret, a one day holiday that seems to be lacking an identity to most American Jews. Biblically, a holiday in which we are to hold a “solemn gathering”, accompanied by the annual celebration of the “prayer for rain”-albeit intended for the desert land of Israel and not for the temperate climes and year-round rainfall experienced in the Northern Hemisphere where most Diaspora Jews live. And its main “drawing” power seems to be the inclusion of a Yizkor service, less than two weeks after we gathered in synagogue for the very same commemoration. Indeed, when one looks at the Biblical origins and rabbinic modifications of the holiday, its identity appears to be bound up in the previous Sukkot holiday and its seven day joyous observance, and a respite before yet another joyous celebration the next day for Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-10-07T15:34:34-04:00October 7, 2009|

Shabbat Sukkot

By Doug Alpert

We tend to apprehend the present Hag HaSukkot by placing it within the context of the annual agricultural cycle. The notion of “dwelling in booths” (Vayikra 23:42-43) was compelled at least in part by the need to not stray to far from the fields during harvest. We also tend to understand Sukkot within its role as one of the Shalosh
Regalim, the three pilgrimage festivals. While these two approaches to garnering greater understanding of the Hag still resonate in an appropriate way, I would suggest another means by which we can place Hag HaSukkot within our annual cycle of Jewish life.

As with much of life, we understand how we arrive at Sukkot by understanding from whence we came. Specifically, Sukkot serves as a vital jumping off point from Yom Kippur, Read More >

By Doug Alpert|2009-10-01T21:06:25-04:00October 1, 2009|

Parashat Ha-azinu/Shabbat Shuva

Parashat Ha’azinu/Shabbat Shuva
Susan Elkodsi

Shabbat Shuva carries with it an air of redemption, for ourselves as individuals, and for the Jewish people as a whole. Parashat Ha’azinu, which we read on Shabbat Shuva this year, carries that message from God, through Moses, to the Israelites perched on the banks of the Jordan ready to cross into the Promised Land. Ha’azinu is Moses’ final discourse, his instructions to the people, but it isn’t a “rah rah go get ’em” commencement type of speech. Yes, it’s a message of hope for the future, but before we get there, we have to listen to a lot of scolding and admonition regarding the sins of the previous generations.

This could explain why the parashah begins, Ha’azinu hashamayim v’adabeira, v’tishma ha-aretz imrei-fi. “Give ear, heavens, and I will speak, the earth will hear my speech.” (Deut. 32:1) If this is a message for the people, why is Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-09-22T18:35:58-04:00September 22, 2009|

Rosh HaShanah

By Rabbi Dorit Edut

“Zokhreinu Lehayyim Melekh Hafetz Behayyim-Remember us that we may live, O Ruler Who delights in Life – V’Khotveynu B’Sefer Hahayyim Lema’ankha Elohim Hayim – Inscribe us in the Book of Life, for Your Sake, O Living God.”

These are the words of a special insertion in the High Holy Day Amidah. It probably dates from the post-Talmudic period and seems to have become part of our liturgy only after much debate. And yet there was such affinity for
these verses, especially during times when our lives were very threatened that this plea for life was sustained.

There was also another thread that was being preserved here, which refers to asking God to inscribe us for life in God’s Book of Life. The very first reference in the Torah to any such book comes in Exodus 32:32 when Moses asks God to forgive the Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-09-15T15:15:03-04:00September 15, 2009|

Parshat Nitzavim/VaYelekh

By Sanford Olshansky

When I was 22 years old, I had stopped practicing Judaism. My attendance at Shabbat services had dwindled to zero. Not so unusual – lots of Jews attend synagogue only on the High Holidays plus an occasional bar/bat mitzvah or wedding. But that year, I didn’t even attend High Holiday services – I worked – and it didn’t feel right.

Later that year I read The Source, by James Michener. As I became engrossed in it, I realized that it was speaking to me about a miracle – the miracle of Jewish survival. It reminded me that for over 3,000 years our continuous chain of tradition and belief has survived conquest, exile and dispersion, the rise and fall of empires and persecution which is unparalleled
in human history. It helped me to realize that I’m an heir to a unique spiritual heritage. If I hadn’t read Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-09-08T16:22:43-04:00September 8, 2009|

Parashat Ki Tavo

By Rabbi Halina Rubenstein

One of the most rewarding experiences of my rabbinical career has been teaching conversion classes. It is exhilarating seeing the students learning Judaism step by step and then witnessing their evolving Jewish identity when everything you have been teaching congeals and becomes love and acceptance. The close relationship that the students and I develop through many months of weekly sessions is essential for this transformation to happen. Working through their struggles, their strengths and weaknesses, their joys and tribulations, together, creates a strong connection and gives them the support to go through the last stage of the conversion process -which is usually charged with anxiety – the meeting with the Bet Din and the mikvah ceremony. This rite of passage which marks their ‘official’ acceptance is a powerful ritual usually accompanied by a dialogue between the Bet Din and the convert in which Read More >

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2009-09-03T09:50:15-04:00September 3, 2009|

Parashat Shoftim

By Simon Rosenbach

If you are of a certain age, you remember Superman, the television show with George Reeves, Noel Neill, Jack Larson, and, among others, Phillips Tead as the delightful Professor Pepperwinkle . . . but I digress. Of course you remember the end of the introduction: “fighting a never ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way.” Well, if you are of a certain age, you had fun with that ending. It became, “fighting a never ending battle for truth, justice, and something completely different, the American way.” After all, if truth and justice are not the American way, then what is?

This week’s parashah poses a similar puzzle. Moses directs the people to appoint judges who will judge impartially, who will not accept bribes that blind their eyes. Then, as though he were mentioning something completely different, Moses utters those famous words, Tzedek, tzedek tirdof. “Justice, justice you shall pursue.” Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-08-18T13:00:47-04:00August 18, 2009|

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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