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By Joan Lenowitz Every morning in our daily liturgy we recite the words spoken by the gentile prophet Balaam who acts as Balak's agent and is the main protagonist in the narrative of Parashat Balak, 'Mah tovu ohalekha Ya'akov mishk'notekha Yisrael,' traditionally rendered, 'How goodly are your tents, Jacob, your dwelling places, Israel.' (Num. 24:5) Read More >

By Bruce Alpert Our parashah this week begins in a curious place. The affair of Baal-Peor is related in Chapter 25 of Bemidbar - a brief 18 verses. Yet the story is broken in half by the division of the parashiot ' nine verses last week in Balak and the final nine in this week's Read More >

By Rabbi Jeff Hoffman I'm a guitarist. Have been for many years. On the guitar case of one of my guitars, I have affixed a bumper sticker that reads 'What would Jerry say?' The 'Jerry' referred to is Jerry Garcia, the late lead guitarist for the greatest rock 'n roll band the world has known, Read More >

By Dr. Ora Horn Prouser As we finish preparing for Rosh Hashanah, I would like to offer a few words of Torah. The traditional Torah reading for the first day of Rosh Hashanah includes the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael from Abraham and Sarah's home. As they wander out in the desert, Hagar, unable to Read More >

By Rabbi Jill Hammer The quintessential image of harvest-time is the bundle: the sheaf of wheat, the bushel of apples, the cluster of grapes. The arba'ah minim, the four species of the lulav (- palm branch, etrog - citron, willow and myrtle), is the Jewish harvest-bundle, bringing together four different kinds of plant into a Read More >

Nostalgia - is it enough? By Rabbi Robert Waxman In Webster's contemporary formulation, nostalgia is "longing for something far away or long ago." As we gather for Yizkor a wave of nostalgia fills the room. We are looking back, remembering. For some, we are looking back at a safe distance. For others, memories of loss Read More >

Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein The new year we began just last week stretches before us like an empty canvas and we pause to reflect before it. What are we going to paint on it this year? What will we write upon it? How do we make a difference with our lives? What really matters? It Read More >

By Rabbi Leslie Schotz "In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups-the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories." You may recognize that opening from a show called "Law and Order" which follows crime from two separate vantage Read More >

By Michael Kohn Two years ago, as the flood waters from Hurricane Katrina raged in New Orleans, some thought it necessary to remark that the devastation wrought by the storm was divine retribution for the sins of the people living in that area. According to press reports, some prominent Rabbis described Hurricane Katrina as America's Read More >

By Helene Santo This week's parashah, Lekh L'kha, opens with God saying to Avram:"Lekh l'kha (Go), me'artz'kha (from your land), mimolad't'kha (from where you were born or according to other translations: from your family), umibeit avikha (and from your father's house), el ha-aretz asher ar'eka (to a land that I will show you)." (Gen. 12:1) Read More >