Sefer Devarim Archives | Page 4 of 12 | Academy for Jewish Religion

1 09, 2022

Parashat Shofetim 5782

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:52:34-05:00September 1, 2022|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

Idols of Our Own Making
A D’var Torah for Parashat Shofetim
By Rabbi Matthew Goldstone

Our parasha this week begins with a call to justice – we must establish reliable judges who will judge with integrity and we ourselves must actively pursue justice. Immediately following this charge, the portion switches to a prohibition against setting up idolatrous objects of wood or stone. The next chapter (Deut. 17) continues to interweave discussions of avoiding idolatry through the worship of celestial objects with legal justice – that capital punishment shall only be enacted on the basis of the testimony of multiple witness and that difficult cases should be brought to the appointed judges of the day. The extended connection between avoiding idolatry and the pursuit of justice reinforces their antipodal orientations. Idolatry leads us away from truth and justice.

But the nature and manifestations of Read More >

25 08, 2022

Parashat Re’eh 5782

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:52:46-05:00August 25, 2022|

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Re’eh
By Rabbi Enid Lader (’10)

Our Torah portion this week is Re’eh – Deut. 11:26-16:17. In chapter 15, Moses continues to speak to the people about what to expect as they come into the new land. “There shall be no needy among you – since the Eternal your God will bless you in the land that the Eternal your God is giving you as an inheritance – if only you will heed the Eternal your God and keep all this Instruction that I enjoin upon you this day.” (15:4-5) Here’s the thing… If you play by the rules, there will be plenty for all. That makes sense. We know that there certainly are ways we can treat each other and care for (and about) each other that Read More >

18 08, 2022

Parashat Eikev 5782

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:53:00-05:00August 18, 2022|

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Of Bread and Potential
A D’var Toraj for Parashat Eikev
By Rabbi Katy Allen (’05)

The grass dries out in the heat–

it’s brown now.

Flowering plants, and even shrubs,

are wilting,

their leaves dull and stiff,

the bright blue of the sky

day after day

broken only

by occasional fair-weather clouds,

as the temperatures soar

and relief doesn’t come.

Here in my yard,

the visible life and death question is

focused on plants,

and perhaps some pollinators

or creepy crawlers in the soil

(though the bunnies and woodchucks no longer graze outside my window,

and I’m wondering where and what they are munching instead).

Elsewhere, however,

earthlings

are dying.

Humans cannot live by bread alone, (Deuteronomy 8:3)

our Torah text tells us,

and some rabbis say this means

we actually can live on less–

although I find it impossible to imagine no need for water.

The text also says

that humans can live on anything the Lord decrees,

and thus the manna from heaven was Read More >

12 08, 2022

Parashat Va’ethanan 5782

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:53:11-05:00August 12, 2022|

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Studying Torah 101
A D’var Torah for Parashat Va’ethanan
By Rabbi Rob Scheinberg

I first began to study Talmud in 7th grade in the Jewish day school I attended as a child. Those first months of Talmud were intensely frustrating. The Talmud, as a work of law, is supposed to be logical. And much of the content of the Talmud is, in fact, a series of logical arguments about different rabbis’ statements on various matters in Jewish law. But there were also a number of statements in the Talmud that, to my classmates and to me, just didn’t seem to make any sense. These rabbinic statements purported to be logical but just didn’t seem logical to us. Being seventh graders, my classmates and I expressed this frustration in a typical seventh grade manner, opining “This is stupid,” or “This is a waste of time,” or in Read More >

5 08, 2022

Parashat Devarim 5782

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:53:20-05:00August 5, 2022|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

Do You Believe In Miracles?
A D’var Torah for Parashat Devarim
By Rabbi Marc Rudolph (’04)

In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses assembles the Israelites on the plains of Moab, poised to enter the Land promised to our ancestors. In a series of three speeches, Moses recounts the history of the past forty years, reviews old laws and imparts new ones, exhorts the people to follow the commandments and castigates them for their failure to do so in the past. He recalls the miracles of the plagues in Egypt and the miracle of the splitting of the Red Sea. He reminds the Israelites how God cared for them in the wilderness, “as a man carries his son, all the way that you traveled until you came to this place” (Deuteronomy 1:31). God even personally guides the Jewish people on their Read More >

17 09, 2021

Parashat Ha’azinu

By Rabbi Jeffrey Segelman|2022-07-29T11:24:17-04:00September 17, 2021|

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In the Aftermath of Yom Kippur
A D’var Torah for Parashat Ha’azinu
By Rabbi Jeffrey Segelman

The poem/song of Ha’azinu begins with a grammatical problem. The first verb in the opening verse – ha’azinu, listen – is in the imperative form. However, the second verb – tishma, hear – is in the simple form. Moses demands that the heavens “listen” and then lets us know that the earth “will hear.”

This inconsistency captured the attention of the Or HaHayyim (Rabbi Chayim ben Attar). After addressing this problem on the level of peshat, he continues from the perspective of derash: “Moses addressed the two components of which a person is made, the spiritual and the physical. The ‘heavens’ represent the spiritual dimension and ‘the earth’ represents the physical/material.” In other words, Moses was speaking to the soul and to the body. The grammar points to a very important and very instructive Read More >

10 09, 2021

Parashat Vayeilekh 5782

By Rabbi Matthew Goldstone, PhD|2022-07-29T11:24:17-04:00September 10, 2021|

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayeilekh
By Rabbi Matthew Goldstone

Shanah tovah! As we transition into a new Jewish year we also near the completion of our annual reading of the Torah and prepare to begin the cycle again. This week, at the beginning of parashat Vayeilekh, Moses speaks briefly to the Israelites before turning his attention to Joshua. With Joshua poised to take the helm, Moses offers him a few words of wisdom before he leads the people into the promised land. I would suggest that the beginning of our parasha not only offers sagacious advice for Joshua and the Israelites, but also provides important guidance and reminders for contemporary Jewish leaders. I would like to highlight three lessons that emerge as we look closely at the beginning of Deuteronomy 31.

First, the very name of our parasha evokes movement Read More >

3 09, 2021

Parashat Nitzavim 5781

By Rabbi Lizz Goldstein|2022-07-29T11:24:17-04:00September 3, 2021|

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The Covenant is for Everyone
A D’var Torah for Parashat Nitzavim
By Rabbi Lizz Goldstein (’16)

This weekend, I was blessed to officiate over a Baby Naming. Like the other two baby namings I have done this year, this is a baby born at the beginning of the pandemic when parents were very reluctant to plan any kind of celebration. As much as March through May 2020 were a particularly terrifying and isolating time for all of us, I can only imagine how much more so that was true for parents of a newborn. And so, it is with so much joy and relief that we gather this weekend, even among rising concerns of the Delta variant and the possibility of returning to online High Holy Day services, to finally officially welcome this now-toddler into the Jewish community with a Hebrew name Read More >

26 08, 2021

Parashat Ki Tavo 5781

By Rabbi Ariann Weitzman|2022-07-29T11:24:17-04:00August 26, 2021|

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Ki Tavo
By Rabbi Ariann Weitzman (’11)Many of us spend an incredible amount of time figuring out how to make someone else listen, whether it’s to our instructions, our needs, our anxieties, or just our day-to-day thoughts and feelings. Listening seems like it’s in short supply. Wanting to be heard, however, is abundant. Moses was no stranger to this phenomenon. His speeches make up the bulk of the book of Deuteronomy. And his repeated command, “Listen!” peppers these speeches.

In this week’s parashah, Ki Tavo, Moses elevates the pitch of his final speech, detailing a dramatic series of blessings and curses that will be spoken to the people by the priests once they enter the land of Canaan, as the people stand up on two opposing hilltops. If his words aren’t enough to make them hear, Read More >

20 08, 2021

Parashat Ki Teitzei 5781

By Doug Alpert|2022-07-29T11:24:17-04:00August 20, 2021|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Ki Teitzei
By Rabbi Doug Alpert (’12)

Entering the month of Elul – a time for great introspection and personal reflection leading up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I, and at the risk of being presumptuous, we, are experiencing a time of unprecedented turmoil. In my own congregation the resurgence of the COVID 19 pandemic via the Delta variant has been an emotional setback as we have been so looking forward to being back in physical space together. Wearing masks and putting hugging on the back burner leaves us detached from our need for connecting in community.

Polarization and animosity are pervasive surrounding the proper response to the pandemic. This notwithstanding that in our Jewish world Pikuah Nefesh – sanctity of human life – should dictate the seemingly obvious response that we take every measure possible to save human Read More >

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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