The AJR Center for Judaism and Science has an annual competition for the best student D’var Torah infused with science. Click here to view the entries that have won our לדעת חכמה (Lada’at Hokhmah) Award.
Parashat Bo – 5786
January 19, 2026
Rabbi Kaya Stern-Kaufman
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....
Parashat Vaeira – 5786
January 13, 2026
Rabbi Wendy Love Anderson
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...
Parashat Shemot – 5786
January 6, 2026
Rabbi Dorit Edut
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,...
Parashat Vayehi – 5786
December 30, 2025
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...
Parashat Vayigash 5786
December 22, 2025
Rabbi Anat Katzir
A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayigash By Rabbi Anat Katzir (AJR ’22) “The connection of shared grief and the inspiration of shared destiny.” I sat down to begin writing my D’var Torah with an idea of exactly what I wanted to write about. Thinking ahead about the parashah there was a moment in the story that always stuck out in my memory. The moment that Joseph asks his brothers not to tell Pharaoh that they are shepherds and you could almost imagine him face-palming when Pharaoh asks: “what is your profession?” And they respond “we are shepherds…” This moment has been a favorite of mine in the simple irony, with Joseph being a character that can’t seem to filter himself, sharing truths in the most blunt way throughout his story. I have always been inspired by the overarching sense that the truth has such great power that is comes out...
