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The Shabbat before Pesach is referred in medieval sources as Shabbat haGadol ' the Great Shabbat. But there is a range of opinions about its relationship to the Exodus narrative. According to these sources, it was on the Shabbat preceding the first Pesach that Israel was commanded to take a lamb per household in preparation Read More >

To Love Another Person Is to See the Face of God By Laurie Levy "To love another person is to see the face of God" (Jean Valjean in Les Miserables) I recently saw the show Spring Awakening on Broadway. It is the story of a group of adolescents dealing with the mystifying and consuming discovery Read More >

Parashat Behar By Rabbi Aryeh Meir As we celebrate Israel's sixtieth anniversary, it is appropriate to reflect on the kind of society that has emerged with the advent of Israel's great "economic miracle." I begin by quoting several reflections on Israeli society:The average Israeli works twelve years before his cumulative pay equals the monthly salary Read More >

By Rabbi Katy Allen Here in New England, the trees are almost fully leafed out. The brilliant yellow marsh marigolds have come and gone. The tiny, delicate bluets blanket the meadows as if with snow. Trillium dot the woods, and the lady slippers are bursting forth. One could think that all is right in the Read More >

By Cantor Kathy Barr IT'S DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN! "How long will this people continue to mutter against me?" Deja vu. How many times so far in the Torah have we read this complaint from the Eternal? We seem to be a people of kvetching, easily swayed to follow the crowd, constantly needing to Read More >

The Power of Foresight By Hayley Siegel and The Transforming Essence By Moshe Rudin The Power of Foresight In this week's parashah, Huqqat, one of the most shocking events in the entire Torah occurs. Despite forty dedicated years of service as teacher, general, and counselor on behalf of God and the Israelites, Moses is told Read More >

By Diane M. Sharon, Ph.D. Balak is a Moabite king who feels his sovereignty threatened by the numerous tribes of Israel as they wander in the wilderness towards the Land of Promise. Balak, along with a Midianite coalition, commissions a renowned Aramean prophet, Balaam son of Beor, to curse the Hebrew tribes to drive them Read More >

How Do We Settle the Holy Land? By Jaron Matlow Whenever a new nation settled in a land, it took great wisdom on the part of the leaders to ensure that the land was settled equitably. Parashat Pinhas provides the initial instructions for how the land is to be distributed to the nine and one Read More >

By Sanford Olshansky There is a saying that many stories in the Torah must be true, because if they were made up, our sages would have presented our ancient ancestors more favorably. But in this week's Torah portion of Mattot there's a story, a story about what we moderns would call genocide, a story so Read More >

By Dr. Ora Horn Prouser Parashat Mas'ei concludes the Book of Bemidbar, bringing together elements of the desert period, and drawing various parts to their logical conclusions. It traces the travels and encampments of the Israelites throughout the whole period of wandering. It then looks forward, setting boundaries and borders for Israel once they enter Read More >