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Joseph, Hannukah and Conservation By Irwin Huberman Tradition tells us that it is the responsibility of the Children of Israel to act as a 'light unto other nations' (Isaiah 49:6). This week's Torah portion, Miketz, read on the second Shabbat of Hannukah, provides us with two sparkling examples of how to use that light. How Read More >

Fidelity and Imagination By Rabbi David Greenstein The last verses of this last portion of the book of Genesis have Joseph, on his deathbed, making his brothers swear that, 'As the Almighty will surely remember you, you must take my bones up with you from this place.' The narrator then reports that Joseph died and Read More >

Learning from Latkes By Hayley Mica Siegel A flurry of spinning dreidels, the subtle jingle of chocolate gelt bags, the prominent displays of sufganiot (jelly donuts) in bakery windows, and the radio's blasting of Adam Sandler's 'The Hannukah Song' signify that Hannukah is around the corner. Although Hannukah is found in the Apocrypha and not Read More >

By Tamara Silberman As Bereshit begins to draw to a close, the 11 sons of Jacob are reunited with their long lost brother. The leader of the brothers, Judah, the one who sets the moral code for his brothers, has to contend with the second most powerful man in Egypt, not realizing that this it Read More >

Fidelity and Imagination By Rabbi David Greenstein The last verses of this last portion of the book of Genesis have Joseph, on his deathbed, making his brothers swear that, 'As the Almighty will surely remember you, you must take my bones up with you from this place.' The narrator then reports that Joseph died and Read More >

By Barbara Wortman This D'var Torah is written in memory of my father, Herbert Press (z''l) on the 2nd anniversary of his Yahrtzeit In this week's Torah portion, Parashat Bo, we are instructed to observe the festival of Passover, and to tell our children: 'God did this for me when I went out of Egypt Read More >

By Charles R. Lightner '. . . but the bush was not consumed' Perhaps no single phrase in our history has been so influential as that included by Moses in his formulation of the Shema: 'Adonai Echad.' We can trace the development of the basic monotheistic idea in our texts over time in a fairly Read More >

By Arnold Saltzman In parashat Va-era we learn that God is not only the Creator, but the preserver of existence. God has established His covenant and therefore He cannot forget B'nei Yisrael ' the Children of Israel - in our ordeal of slavery. God tells Moses that He has heard our groaning and remembered His Read More >

By Steve Alatarescu As we know, the God of the Torah can be seen as protective but also capable of unspeakable cruelty. The God of liberation portrayed in the plagues in this week's parashah, B'shalah, needs a makeover in order for us to have a God Who helps in our present-day liberation, personal and communal. Read More >

Reason & Revelation By Suri Krieger A riddle: 5 scrolls, ancient word Direct dictate of God heard Moses writes it all down On top Mt Sinai, holy ground . . . What am I? Have you got the answer? OK Hold that thought, and let's try another: 5 scrolls, a few thousand years Words of Read More >