Parashat Mishpatim – 5785
February 18, 2025
Rabbi Greg Schindler (’09)
Promises, Promises A D’var Torah for Parashat Mishpatim By Rabbi Greg Schindler (AJR ’09) While last week’s Torah portion is so famous that they made a movie about it (something with Charlton Heston), this week’s parsha – Mishpatim or “Laws” – has a very different flavor. This week, we get – count ‘em – 53 different laws on a vast array of topics. They include the treatment of servants, betrothal of handmaidens, insults, injuries, theft, loans, false witnesses, bribery, return of lost animals, land usage, festivals and many more. Then, after 80-something verses of laws, we get the following line (Exod 23:18-20 ): https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.23.18-20?lang=bi&aliyot=0– “I am going to send an angel before you to protect you on the way, and to bring you to the place that I have designated.” Wait…what?! You’re sending an angel before us? Where did that come from? It’s like reading the U.S. Federal Tax Code and coming across a line from Harry Potter. Now that it...
Parashat Yitro – 5785
February 10, 2025
Susan Elkodsi
In this week’s Torah portion, Rabbi Susan Elkodsi sees Yitro’s advice to Moses as a reminder that strong and effective leaders also need to care for their own wellbeing.
February 4, 2025
Cantor Robin Anne Joseph (’96)
In this week’s D’var Torah, Cantor Robin Anne Joseph wonders (with apologies for the gender specificity) if “to know, know, know Him is to love, love, love Him.”
Parashat Bo – 5785
January 30, 2025
Hazzan Rabbi Luis Cattan ('20)
As I watched live the final episode of “Kochav haba LeEurovision” and witnessed the elegant sensitivity with which they crafted this joyous occasion with the reiterated references to the last almost sixteen months that the hostages have been in captivity, I couldn’t avoid thinking of Naomi Shemer’s song “BeDamaikh Hayi”
Parashat Vaera – 5785
January 20, 2025
Rabbi Cantor Inna Serebro-Litvak ('16)
Let me ask you this: “As a child, what did you most associate with Christmas? What about Hanukkah? Easter? Passover?”
Think about the images you associated with these holidays. Then think about what an evergreen tree has to do with the birth of Jesus; or why eight gifts represent Hanukkah. And how about connecting jelly donuts with the victory of Maccabees over Assyrian King Antiochus and the Hellenistic influence over the Israelites. Better yet, what does a bunny and chocolate eggs have to do with the crucifixion of Jesus? And even more interesting, how does the happy tune of the “Frog” song reflect on the horrifying experience of the one of 10 plagues – which caused so much suffering among Egyptians?
