Sefer Shemot Archives | Academy for Jewish Religion

16 02, 2026

Parashat Terumah -5786

By Marisa Amith|2026-02-16T11:56:43-05:00February 16, 2026|

Facing Each Other

A D’var Torah for Parashat Terumah

Rabbi Dr. Rachel Posner (AJR ’25)

This week the Israelites are given instructions for a monumental building project:

וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃

And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8)

The story of the Mishkan – our portable container for holiness – is told twice in the Bible: first as a set of instructions, a kind of how-to guide, and later as a description of how the Israelites carried the instructions out. This building project is the key element to becoming a community, not a disparate group of people but A People that beats with one heart.

What makes a project sacred? Sure, assembling those Kallax shelves or Kivik sofa might bring you closer together (or result in filing for divorce) – but is it holy work? Some building projects are ordinary. A few are holy. And some turn out to Read More >

9 02, 2026

Parashat Mishpatim – Shabbat Shekalim – 5786

By Marisa Amith|2026-02-09T13:46:34-05:00February 9, 2026|

A D’var Torah for Parashat Mishpatim – Shabbat Shekalim

By Rabbi Anat Katzir

Reading the laws presented in the parashah this week was an opening to struggle with some of the discomfort caused by what feels like a gap of values between my world and the biblical one. It is through grappling with the reality of ancient history, and with the input from generations of Rabbinic leadership that followed, that I can see how behind the laws there are similar values and shared truths that needed to be redefined and amended through time and space. It is a lesson in context and adaptation of values over eras and cultures, and also a struggle with finding ways to overcome the gaps between Jewish communities of different interpretations, when it comes to understanding communal responsibilities and sharing the burdens of sustaining a modern-day state while finding guidance in ancient law.

When working with b-mitzvah students, the question Read More >

2 02, 2026

Parashat Yitro 5786

By Marisa Amith|2026-02-02T13:59:31-05:00February 2, 2026|

K’Ish Ehad: Organizational Infrastructure as a Path to Unity

A D’var Torah for Parashat Yitro

By Rabbi Scott “Shalom” Klein

Parashat Yitro stands as the essential fulcrum of the Book of Exodus, marking the transition from a newly liberated population to a covenanted nation at the foot of Sinai. This portion offers a profound exploration of the nature of communal leadership, the ethics of delegation, and the radical openness required to receive the Divine law. By examining the structural wisdom of an outsider and the communal unity required for the Aseret HaDibrot, we find a timeless blueprint for the rabbinate, particularly for those serving in the pluralistic environments of the military or the intimate settings of small-town pulpits.

The Parashah begins with a singular focus on an outsider through the words “וַיִּשְׁמַע יִתְרוֹ”—”And Yitro heard” (Exodus 18:1). While the entire world heard of the Exodus, the Midrash in Zevahim 116a asks what specifically Yitro Read More >

26 01, 2026

Parashat Beshallah 5786

By Marisa Amith|2026-01-26T17:50:30-05:00January 26, 2026|

Lighting the Way

A D’var Torah for Parashat Beshallah

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz (’14)

In our busy, often digital-driven lives, we tend to forget to pause and take note of the wonders of creation around us and above us. Yet, opportunities abound: when we pray the words from the morning liturgy “yotzer or u’vorei hoshekh” (“Creator of light and Fashioner of darkness”), we might pause and look out the window; when we are out at night, we could look up and take note of the phase of the moon, reflecting on its connection to the Hebrew month. Taking the time to watch the sun set can be a wondrous and profound experience – the sky slowly changing color as the sun gradually sets behind the horizon and disappears, and the colors continue to change until it is finally fully dark.

Often, we’re too involved in the business of our daily life to stop and take note. Read More >

19 01, 2026

Parashat Bo – 5786

By Marisa Amith|2026-01-19T11:28:20-05:00January 19, 2026|

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. Six times we read the refrain Read More >

6 01, 2026

Parashat Shemot – 5786

By Marisa Amith|2026-01-06T12:01:09-05:00January 6, 2026|

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, the rays or horns of Read More >

24 03, 2025

Parashat Pekudei – 5785

By Marisa Amith|2025-03-24T11:44:17-04:00March 24, 2025|

Both Sides Now

A D’var Torah for Parashat Pekudei

By Cantor Robin Anne Joseph

Let’s look at clouds. From all sides now. Shall we?

Clouds are—what? The presence of God? A cover for God? A signal from God? In Parashat Pekudei, they are D) All of the above. And then some.

One cloud in particular makes a brief, but spectacular, cameo appearance as the curtain comes down on the second “act” (Book) of the Five Books of Moses. Not just any cloud, not just a cloud, but The Cloud (הֶעָנָ֖ן). As much a supporting actor in the Torah as anyone (or anything) else, I’m continually surprised not to see the word “cloud” capitalized in the English translation whenever the article “the” precedes it.

This is not the first time that The Cloud has made an appearance in the Torah.

As early as in the Book of Genesis, when God makes a covenant, a Brit, with Noah to never again destroy the earth by flood, God sets God’s “bow in the cloud.” Read More >

18 03, 2025

Parashat Vayakhel – 5785

By Linda Ripps|2025-03-18T14:13:35-04:00March 18, 2025|

There are individuals for whom learned information remains merely theoretical, and there are others who internalize their learning until it becomes part of their very being. We know the second ones in biblical language as "wise-hearted" (חכמי לב). A "wise-hearted" individual understands and internalizes their learning until it permeates their thoughts and actions.

10 03, 2025

Parashat Ki Tissa – 5785

By Marisa Amith|2025-03-12T09:52:45-04:00March 10, 2025|

Yishar Koah!

A D’var Torah for Parashat Ki Tissa

By Rabbi Rob Scheinberg

Among the various words and phrases you’re likely to hear in a synagogue is the phrase “Yishar koah,” sometimes pronounced as “Yashar koah” or “Yeshar koah” or even abbreviated to “Sh’koyah!” Since Talmudic times, this phrase has been a way to express praise for an achievement, even an extremely minor achievement. “Yishar” comes from the root “y.sh.r.”, meaning “upright” or “aligned,” and “koah” means “strength” or “force.” The phrase itself can be translated in a few different ways; it could be a prayer or good wish for the future, “may your strength be upright,” or it could be a complimentary statement of fact, “your strength is upright” or “your force is aligned.”

Functionally, “Yishar koah” means “you did a good job,” especially in performing a synagogue ritual-related task — whether or not it is one of the synagogue tasks that requires any skill Read More >

3 03, 2025

Parashat Tetzaveh – 5785

By Marisa Amith|2025-03-03T10:50:00-05:00March 3, 2025|

Did we miss a spot?

As Moses receives instructions for the making of items for the Mishkan, the text moves from describing the wardrobe of the priests to the ritual of installing the priests in their sacred roles. It is a ritual of purification that begins with sacrificial animals and bread, clothing the priests in their sacred vestments, and then their purification, including:

“…Slaughter the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the ridge of Aaron’s right ear and on the ridges of his sons’ right ears, and on the thumbs of their right hand, and on the big toes of their right feet.” (Ex. 29:20)

Ear… Thumb… Big toe?

It is probably due to my current grandparenting responsibilities that, as I read this verse, I couldn’t help but hear, “Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb” – a book by Al Perkins, introducing toddlers and pre-school 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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