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By Heidi Hoover This week's Torah portion, Va'era, continues a saga that many Jews have lived with all their lives and that we tell every year at our Passover tables: the exodus from Egypt. Last week Moses and Aaron had their first confrontations with Pharaoh, to no avail. Now the narrative takes us through the Read More >

The Makings of a Great Leader Hayley Siegel In Pirke Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) 1:10, our teachers Shemayah and Avtalyon teach, 'Do not become overly familiar with the government.' Indeed, our rabbis probably could never have imagined an election season quite like this one! With groundbreaking candidates, including an African-American, a female, a Mormon, Read More >

Parashat BeShalah: Shabbat Shirah 5768 The Power of Song By Hazzan Ram'n Tasat I remember it clearly; it was around 1970 when, for the first time, I heard the music of a Spanish group, proscribed at the time by the Franco Administration. The group was called "Aguaviva" and hardly anyone remembers them anymore. The words Read More >

Everything I Need, I Learned at Sinai By Irwin Huberman During the mid-1980's a series of books captured the imagination of readers across America under the general theme of "All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten." The book's premise was that this complex and often troubling world could somehow be tamed and Read More >

Parashat Ki Tissa By Suri Krieger Moses had a double! That's right. Moses was not the only prophet to part the waters, or to experience a Revelation on Mt. Sinai, or to have a highly unusual end-of life occurrence. Granted, our first and foremost prophet earned his reputation with miracles and fireworks. But so did Read More >

Parashat Tetzaveh By Rabbi Aryeh Meir This week Qassam rockets fell on the Israeli town of Sderot, severely injuring two brothers. The rockets, fired by Palestinian militants from just across the border in Gaza, have been raining down upon Sderot and environs for months and years, terrorizing the populace and perplexing Israel's leaders. And this Read More >

By Susan Elkodsi Parashat Tzav continues the instructions for sacrifices, and lays out the role of the kohanim (priests), in this case - Aaron and his sons. It could easily be seen as an instruction manual for the kohanim, complete with a priestly guide to "dressing for success," offering specific instructions on what the priest Read More >

By Mark Getman Vayikra (Leviticus) is the name not only of this week's parashah, but also of the entire third book of the Torah. Though the book has much to say about the sacrificial system, it also teaches us how we should interact with our fellow Jews and other human beings. Although written thousands of Read More >

By Sanford Olshansky Many traditional Jews believe that the entire Torah was revealed by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Accordingly, they have no problem with the existence of mitzvot (commandments) that appear to have no practical purpose. In fact, they delight in performing such commandments. For example, Yeshayahu Leibowitz has written, in an article Read More >

By Rabbi Yehonatan Chipman Someone once said, only half in jest (paraphrasing the well-known Rabbinic dictum in Pirkei Avot), that "Whoever manages to give a decent derashah about Tazria-Metzora brings redemption to the word." And indeed, one is hard to imagine any section of the Torah more alien to the modern world, than these two Read More >