Sefer Devarim Archives | Page 2 of 13 | Academy for Jewish Religion

26 08, 2025

Parashat Shoftim – 5785

Marisa Amith2025-08-26T13:32:16-04:00

One to Keep Before You… And One to Carry with You

A D’var Torah for Parashat Shoftim

By Rabbi Enid C. Lader

As Moses continues his instructions to all the people of Israel as they [we] are preparing to enter the Promised Land, he says:

“You shall be free to set a king over yourself, one chosen by the Eternal your God… He shall not keep many horses… He shall not have many wives, lest his heart go astray; nor shall he amass silver and gold to excess.

When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he is to write himself a Mishneh Torah – a copy of this Instruction – in a scroll, before the presence of Levitical priests. Let it remain with him and let him read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere the Eternal his God, to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching Read More >

Parashat Shoftim – 5785Marisa Amith2025-08-26T13:32:16-04:00

19 08, 2025

Parashat Re’eh – 5785

Marisa Amith2025-08-19T13:27:37-04:00

The Torah of Vacation

A D’var Torah for Parashat Re’eh

By Rabbi Rob Scheinberg, PhD

Here’s a good question to ask in August: What does the Torah teach us about how to go on vacation?

Our initial answer might be: not so much. You would have a hard time coming up with references to vacation in the Torah. Perhaps one could refer to Shabbat as a weekly vacation, but that uses the word “vacation” very differently from how we tend to use it.

There is a lot of discussion of travel in the Torah: Abraham moves to the land of Israel; the people of Israel go down to Egypt, and then take a long and scenic route for forty years back to the land of Israel. But most of this travel is desperate wandering and displacement, rather Read More >

Parashat Re’eh – 5785Marisa Amith2025-08-19T13:27:37-04:00

11 08, 2025

Parashat Eikev – 5785

Marisa Amith2025-08-11T12:20:45-04:00

The Heart of the Matter¹

A D’var Torah for Parashat Eikev

by Rabbi Greg Schindler (2009)

In this week’s D’var Torah, Rabbi Greg Schindler digs deep to see if there is a central lesson hidden in our Parashah.

If you are a frequent reader of Divrei Torah, then you are probably familiar with some of the great Torah commentators: Rashi, Ramban, Ibn Ezra and many others have helped generations to better understand the weekly parashah.

But what if I told you that there was a Torah commentator even more ancient than these great scholars, older even than the Talmud? And more “plugged in” than any of them. Well, there is such a commentator, and it has been hiding in plain sight for millennia.

That commentator is the Torah itself².

No, this does not Read More >

Parashat Eikev – 5785Marisa Amith2025-08-11T12:20:45-04:00

5 08, 2025

Parashat Vaethanan – 5785

Marisa Amith2025-08-05T15:30:13-04:00

A D’var Torah for Parashat Vaethanan

by Rabbi Marge Wise (AJR ‘21)

Shalom Hevre,

The haftarah following the Torah reading of Parashat Vaethanan opens with the words Nahamu nahamu ami, the quintessential recipe for comfort for b’nei yisrael following the saddest day of the year for our people, Tisha B’Av. I would like to discuss three themes which I believe are woven into the fabric of parashat Vaethanan: Our love for God, gratitude and the concept of comfort, itself.

Tisha B’Av, for me, always brings to mind a significant memory. Curiously, this year for the first time I was able to reach some closure regarding that memory…. It was early in the afternoon of Tisha B’Av when, decades ago, my husband and I and our two children – both under two years old at the time! – headed out on the next leg of the cross-country trip which we took that summer.

Long story very short, we were Read More >

Parashat Vaethanan – 5785Marisa Amith2025-08-05T15:30:13-04:00

30 07, 2025

Parashat Devarim – 5785

Marisa Amith2025-07-30T12:17:09-04:00

Words of Questioning and Lamenting

A D’var Torah for Parashat Devarim

By Rabbi Susan Elkodsi (AJR ’15)

HaZaL, our Sages of Blessed Memory, knew exactly what they were doing when they manipulated the weekly Torah reading schedule to make sure that Parashat Devarim would be read on the Shabbat immediately preceding Tisha B’Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar.

Tisha B’Av is a day of collective national mourning for a time, place, and way of life that no longer exist. Devarim, Moses’ final address to the Israelites during the last month of his life is similar; by looking back on what has transpired over 40 years, he is lamenting missed opportunities on an often frustrating journey and mourning the loss of a future he won’t be physically part of.

The connection between this reading and Eikha, the Book of Lamentations, is more than the fact that the two share the word, eikha, translated simply as “how?” or “Alas!”.

In Devarim 1:12

Parashat Ha’azinu – 5785

Linda Ripps2024-09-30T11:31:44-04:00

Calling G-d “The Rock” seems such a familiar expression that you might expect to see it a lot in the Torah. But it is not until this week, in Parashat Ha’azinu - at almost the end of the Torah - that we first hear G-d referred to as “The Rock”:

Parashat Ha’azinu – 5785Linda Ripps2024-09-30T11:31:44-04:00

23 09, 2024

Parshiyot Nitzavim-Vayelekh 5784

Linda Ripps2024-09-23T12:12:39-04:00

What does it mean to “choose life”?

Parshiyot Nitzavim-Vayelekh 5784Linda Ripps2024-09-23T12:12:39-04:00

16 09, 2024

Parashat Ki Tavo 5784

Linda Ripps2024-09-16T18:05:05-04:00

Parashat Ki Tavo, which we read this week, outlines a series of blessings contingent upon following God’s commandments and a series of curses for disobedience. This serves as a warning of what to expect upon entering the Promised Land.

Parashat Ki Tavo 5784Linda Ripps2024-09-16T18:05:05-04:00

9 09, 2024

Parashat Ki Teitzei 5784

Linda Ripps2024-09-09T14:05:48-04:00

Our parashah this week opens with a somewhat disturbing series on scenarios – a man takes a captured woman and makes her his wife, a man with two wives tries to favor the child of his preferred wife, and a rebellious son is killed for not listening to his parents. Rashi, based on Midrash Tanhuma, explains that this sequence is interconnected – forcing this woman to be his wife will lead to hatred and attempting to disinherit her son, leading to a rebellious child.

Parashat Ki Teitzei 5784Linda Ripps2024-09-09T14:05:48-04:00

4 09, 2024

Parashat Shoftim 5784

Linda Ripps2024-09-04T14:03:50-04:00

All rabbis have their favorite traditional Jewish texts that they seek to teach at every opportunity. One of my favorites is found in the Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 34a, which addresses when worshippers should bow when reciting the Amidah, the standing prayer that is the centerpiece of every Jewish worship service.

The passage begins by noting an early tradition that a person should bow four times during the Amidah: at the beginning and conclusion of the first blessing (Avot), and at the beginning and conclusion of the blessing of Thanksgiving (Modim) which is the Amidah’s next-to-last blessing. If someone seeks to bow more often than this, they should be instructed not to; four times is enough.

Then, however, some later scholars (Amoraim) express that they learned the tradition slightly differently. The above scheme of bowing four times during the Amidah is specifically for ordinary people. However, a High Priest should bow at the end of each blessing — or, Read More >

Parashat Shoftim 5784Linda Ripps2024-09-04T14:03:50-04:00

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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