Parashat Tzav

By Susan Elkodsi

Parashat Tzav continues the instructions for sacrifices, and lays out the role of the kohanim (priests), in this case – Aaron and his sons. It could easily be seen as an instruction manual for the kohanim, complete with a priestly guide to “dressing for success,” offering specific instructions on what the priest must wear depending on the task he is performing. Preceding the commandments about the sacrifices themselves is a commandment regarding the fire on the altar which was required to burn perpetually, an aish tamid. The offering was to burn all night, and the priest was required to feed the fire every morning. This parashah offers explicit detail about certain tasks, but doesn’t appear to mention what happens to the fire overnight.

In order to continue burning, a fire must be fed and tended. When my husband’s boy scout troop had a Shabbat campout, the fire was arranged in such Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-03-18T09:56:30-04:00March 18, 2008|

Parashat Tetzaveh

Parashat Tetzaveh
By Rabbi Aryeh Meir

This week Qassam rockets fell on the Israeli town of Sderot, severely injuring two brothers. The rockets, fired by Palestinian militants from just across the border in Gaza, have been raining down upon Sderot and environs for months and years, terrorizing the populace and perplexing Israel’s leaders.

And this week, some of the people of Sderot and their supporters stopped traffic on the main road to Jerusalem and marched to the office of the Prime Minister to demonstrate their anger and frustration with the inability of the governments to end the rocket fire.

This coming Shabbat, in the synagogues of Sderot, as in every other synagogue in the world, Jews will be reading and discussing the Torah portion detailing the vestments of the Kohanim, the priests, in the ancient desert sanctuary.

What is the connection between Sderot and the vestments of the Kohanim? Among the garments of the Kohen Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-02-20T07:07:08-05:00February 20, 2008|

Parashat Ki Tissa

Parashat Ki Tissa
By Suri Krieger

Moses had a double! That’s right. Moses was not the only prophet to part the waters, or to experience a Revelation on Mt. Sinai, or to have a highly unusual end-of life occurrence. Granted, our first and foremost prophet earned his reputation with miracles and fireworks. But so did his double, Elijah the Prophet. Elijah is the only other prophet who comes close to facilitating miracles on the scale of grandeur associated with Moses.

Is Elijah really a double Moses? Look at the similarities:

He really did part the waters. Just before he is carried up in a chariot to the heavens, he lifts his mantel and the waters of the Jordan River part for Elisha (his successor) and himself to pass through. That mantle is to Elijah what the staff is to Moses.

Elijah walks 40 days and nights until he reaches Har Horev, another name for Mt. Sinai, whereupon Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-02-20T06:50:14-05:00February 20, 2008|

Parashat Mishpatim

Everything I Need, I Learned at Sinai
By Irwin Huberman

During the mid-1980’s a series of books captured the imagination of readers across America under the general theme of “All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”

The book’s premise was that this complex and often troubling world could somehow be tamed and explained through a series of general themes that we originally learned during a pure and relatively uncomplicated time in our lives.

Of course, in spite of this popular series of books and articles which also claimed that everything we needed to know could be gleaned from our cat, dog or reruns of Bonanza or The Nanny, in reality, the world which God created is complex, often troubling, and beyond the reach of general explanations and classifications.

We as humans possess a tendency to seek absolutes and firm directions to understand life, but indeed, Judaism through its system of debate, discussion and discourse Read More >

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2008-01-30T11:03:00-05:00January 30, 2008|

Parashat Beshallah

Parashat BeShalah: Shabbat Shirah 5768
The Power of Song
By Hazzan Ram’n Tasat

I remember it clearly; it was around 1970 when, for the first time, I heard the music of a Spanish group, proscribed at the time by the Franco Administration. The group was called “Aguaviva” and hardly anyone remembers them anymore. The words of their songs remain with me forever:

. . . My brother, yours is the house, the fire, the harvest. I take with me the song. Everything is yours but I leave you mute. And how are you going to light the fire and harvest the crops if I take away the song from you . . .

Standing at the sea was a time of rebellion, a time to leave behind the known slavery, to submerge ourselves in the unfamiliar, the unknown. Not all agreed, some were not even consulted and yet they trusted their leader. Moshe was Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-01-22T16:20:11-05:00January 22, 2008|

Parashat Yitro

The Makings of a Great Leader
Hayley Siegel

In Pirke Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) 1:10, our teachers Shemayah and Avtalyon teach, ‘Do not become overly familiar with the government.’ Indeed, our rabbis probably could never have imagined an election season quite like this one!

With groundbreaking candidates, including an African-American, a female, a Mormon, and a Jewish candidate (possibly) running in the 2008 Presidential election, who wouldn’t want to pay attention to this year’s primaries and campaigns?! With the myriad ads, speeches, and publicity events flashing before our overwhelmed eyes, it can be difficult to separate the truth from the hype. Luckily for us, Moses’ creation of the first Israelite government in Parashat Yitro gives us the perfect opportunity to gain insight into the qualities we should take into account when we elect leaders for our government.

In last week’s parashah, B’Shalah, we read of the tribe’s dramatic escape from Egypt. The Israelites Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-01-22T16:12:21-05:00January 22, 2008|

Parashat Vaera

By Heidi Hoover

This week’s Torah portion, Va‘era, continues a saga that many Jews have lived with all their lives and that we tell every year at our Passover tables: the exodus from Egypt. Last week Moses and Aaron had their first confrontations with Pharaoh, to no avail. Now the narrative takes us through the first seven plagues: blood, frogs, lice, swarms of insects (some say wild beasts), livestock disease, boils, and hail. We’re good at listing the plagues. We give prizes to religious school kids who can recite them. I’ve recently noticed a trend of frog-themed Passover toys and other products. Apparently frogs were the cute plague.

In our familiarity with this story, it seems we don’t notice the fear and pain in it anymore. Those experiencing the plagues must have thought it was the end of the world. The plague of blood meant the water was contaminated, undrinkable. Fish died. Later plagues Read More >

By Rabbi Heidi Hoover|2008-01-10T09:58:22-05:00January 10, 2008|

Parashat Bo

By Boaz Marmon

At first glance, we probably think of Parashat Bo, as a “middle.” It tells the middle of the Exodus story, beginning in the middle of the ten plagues and ending in the middle of the escape from Egypt. Perhaps, on second thought, it’s a tale of “ends”: the end of the plagues, the end of bondage. What’s easy to miss is how much Parashat Bo is about beginnings.

According to the sage Rabbi Yitzchak, as quoted by the Yalkut Shim’oni and famously cited by Rashi as his first comment on the Torah, the Torah need not have begun until the verse “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you,” (Ex. 12:2) which appears around the middle of the middle aliyah of Bo. This is the first command given by God not Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-01-10T09:41:20-05:00January 10, 2008|

Parashat Shâ€™mot

By Linda Shriner-Cahn

In memory of my father, whose yarhzeit is the 24th of Tevet.

In this week’s Torah portion, Sh’mot, we once more are given all of the names of the sons of Israel, linking this second book of the Torah to the first. Their names are brimming with meaning.

Sh’mot means ‘names.’ Names are critical in understanding who we are and how we relate to the world. It is Adam who names the animals, giving him a sense of dominion over his surroundings. The process of naming something is empowering. For a brief moment we are granted insight into the power of a name. When we name our children we invest the future of that child into their name.

Every week as we make Kiddush (the blessing of sanctification of the Shabbat, recited over a cup of wine) on Friday night we recount the separation of the Read More >

By ahsilver|2007-12-27T09:11:01-05:00December 27, 2007|

Parashat Vayigash

By Susan Elkodsi

In Parashat Vayigash we witness the emotional reunion of Joseph and his brothers, and ultimately Joseph’s reunion with his father. Initially, it appears that the parashah’s focus is on Joseph, the man who saves his family during the time of great famine. But I believe that Judah is the ‘hero’ of the story, and with the benefit of hindsight, that history supports this. In time, Judah becomes one of the promised land’s mighty nations. We, the Jewish people, get our name from him as well. What makes Judah deserving of this honor and ultimate legacy? After all, Judah was the brother responsible for selling Joseph to the Ishmaelite traders, and presumably he who showed Jacob the blood-stained tunic, allowing him to jump to the conclusion that his favorite son had been eaten by a beast.

As we see, a lot can happen in 22 years. Consider that for all this Read More >

By ahsilver|2007-12-10T06:50:20-05:00December 10, 2007|

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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