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22 09, 2009

Parashat Ha-azinu/Shabbat Shuva

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

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 >

8 09, 2009

Parshat Nitzavim/VaYelekh

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

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 >

3 09, 2009

Parashat Ki Tavo

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

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 >

18 08, 2009

Parashat Shoftim

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

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 >

12 08, 2009

Parashat Re’eh

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2009-08-12T19:38:45-04:00August 12, 2009|

August: the lazy days of summer. Our senses are filled with the beauty of late sunsets, the taste of fresh produce, the feeling of grass on bare feet. My family and I will be setting out on vacation shortly, a road trip that will include visits to college campuses, as we embark on the ritual of “The College Selection Process”. I’m comforted by the thought that our daughter still has two more years at home with us, before she heads off to college…

“SEE THIS DAY I SET BEFORE YOU BLESSING AND CURSE”! Like a prelude to the daily shofar blast which takes place during the upcoming month of Elul, the first words of Parashat Re’eh shake us out of our summertime complacency. Wake up, choose blessing, and be ready for what lies ahead, “For you are about to cross the Jordan and possess the land that the Lord your God is assigning Read More >

4 08, 2009

Parashat Ekev

By ahsilver|2009-08-04T08:35:07-04:00August 4, 2009|

By Rabbi Dorit Edut

There is a juxtaposition of two verses in this week’s Torah portion, Ekev, which relate very well to a modern-day phenomenon. Moses, just prior to his death, exhorts the People of Israel to stop blocking themselves from belief in and loyalty to God (Deuteronomy 10:16):

Cut away, therefore, the thickening about your hearts and stiffen your necks no more.

Three verses later, Moses emphasizes that we are to emulate the greatness of God through our actions, specifically (Deuteronomy 10:19):

You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

The Hebrew word for “stranger” is “ger” which has also been used to mean “convert.”

In other words, we are being asked to look at our own practices and open ourselves us up to developing a deep and abiding relationship with our Creator, the One Who is concerned about all those created. And then, Read More >

30 07, 2009

Parashat VaEtchanan

By ahsilver|2009-07-30T09:54:48-04:00July 30, 2009|

Comfort, Oh Comfort!
By Hazzan Marcia Lane

I just got back from Israel. A friend, who has never been there, asked me, “Were you okay? Did you feel comfortable everywhere?” The nature of the question is similar to one that was posed to me right here in my home-town of Long Branch, NJ: “I parked my car in that block. Am I going to feel comfortable going back after dark?” The implication, of course, is that there is danger in certain places or in certain times of day. We should be on our guard in these places or at these times. We should find no comfort there.

Leaving aside the widespread – and unfounded – feeling among some people that the whole of Israel (or parts of Long Branch!) is a danger zone, there are certainly times and places that fill us with feelings
of discomfort. This period of economic uncertainty is probably one Read More >

23 07, 2009

Parashat Devarim

By ahsilver|2009-07-23T08:57:27-04:00July 23, 2009|

Shabbat Hazon – Sabbath of Vision
By Jill Minkoff

Vision – This week’s Sabbath is Shabbat Hazon, the Sabbath of Vision. We read Isaiah 1:1-27. The selection of this Haftarah sets the stage for our observance and memories of Tisha B’Av (rather than for its connection to the Parashat HaShavuah). It begins with the word: Hazon, Vision. It includes three visions of inequities and sin that are the basis for God’s request that we come and mediate an understanding in order to be saved through judgment.

Vision – The Parashat HaShavuah is Devarim 1:1-3:22. Moses commences his final words to the community that has traveled from Egypt toward Israel. A friend recently shared with me how he was struck by the vision of the numerous places Moses recalls and names. They are the multitude of locations along the path from Egypt Read More >

3 10, 2008

Parashat Vayelekh

By ahsilver|2008-10-03T09:41:36-04:00October 3, 2008|

Shabbat Shuvah
By Jill Minkoff

Be Strong and Brave

Half of forty years ago this season, I sent my youngest child to her first day of school. For both of us, it was fraught with excitement and fear. She had heard about this day for much of her life, a day of great possibility, yet a day of neither parent being able to accompany her. She felt pulled to her future yet reluctant to let go of the hand that had been with her for so much of her life. She was fearful and cried. Would she be safe in this new place? Would people be nice to her? (Do you remember how you felt on your first day of school or at some other major transition in your life?) We both felt anxious. At least, it was only for a few hours that she would be in school before returning home to Read More >

25 09, 2008

Parashat Nitzavim

By ahsilver|2008-09-25T08:07:41-04:00September 25, 2008|

By Steve Altarescu

At the beginning of parashat Nitzavim, Moses asks each one of the Jewish people to enter into the covenant with God. He tells them that Judaism is not just for the knowledgeable ones or the priestly classes but for each person including “the woodchopper to the water drawer.” (Deuteronomy 29:10) The oration offered is not only to those who were standing with Moses when he spoke but . . .” to those who are not here with us today.” (Deut. 29:14) Rashi says this refers to generations in the future, as every Jew living at that time was already mentioned in a prior verse.

This is a very fitting scenario for a few days before Rosh Hashanah when we will be gathered as congregations and each of us will be asked to turn back and follow what is right and good. Each person will have his or her own individual 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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