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Click HERE for an audio recording of this D'var Torah A D'var Torah for Parashat Tzav By Rabbi Ariann Weitzman ('11) This week’s parasha begins with a command to offer an olah, a burnt offering. The olah was not offered to expiate guilt or express thanksgiving. No explanation is given for it, and unlike other sacrifices, no part of the olah was kept to Read More >

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D'var Torah Three Lessons in Spiritual Leadership A D'var Torah for Parashat Shemini By Rabbi Jeffrey Segelman Parashat Shemini establishes Aaron as the Kohein Gadol, the spiritual leader of the Jewish people. From Aaron we might learn positive lessons about how we grow as spiritual leaders. The parasha also tells a story of Read More >

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D'var Torah A D'var Torah for Parashat Tazria - Shabbat Hahodesh By Rabbi Doug Alpert ('12) I watched with great interest the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings this past week regarding Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to be an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. This interest is not generated Read More >

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D'var Torah Turning Our Hearts Towards Each Other at the Seder A D'var Torah for Parashat Metzora - Shabbat Hagadol By Rabbi Robert Scheinberg Why is the Shabbat before Passover called Shabbat HaGadol - the “great Sabbath”? One of the best known explanations is presented by the Levush (OH Read More >

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D'var Torah A D'var Torah for the First Day of Passover By Rabbi Marc Rudolph ('04) This Friday marks the beginning of Passover.  I am certain that most of us will be keenly aware that this seder will be the third time we hold our Seders since the Pandemic. The Read More >

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D'var Torah A D'var Torah for Shabbat, the seventh day of Pesah By Rabbi Cantor Sam Levine ('19) One of the key passages of the Passover Haggadah comes at the end of the maggid section: b’khol dor vador hayyav adam lir’ot et atzmo ke’ilu hu yatza miMitzrayim – “In every generation, a person Read More >

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D'var Torah A D'var Torah for Parashat Aharei Mot By Rabbi Michael Rothbaum ('06) In an instantly-classic scene from Fiddler, Tevye the dairyman comes to an agreement to marry off his daughter Tzeitl to the butcher Lazar Wolf. The two men celebrate by singing the rousing anthem L’Hayim — “To Life!” The lyrics report Read More >

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D'var Torah A Stumbling Block Before the Blind A D'var Torah for Parashat Kedoshim By Rabbi Jill Hackell ('13) Parashat Kedoshim contains many laws that outline a path toward leading a holy life. Although some of these are mystifying (e.g. the laws of shatnez – a prohibition against wearing clothing made from a Read More >

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D'var Torah A D'var Torah for Parashat Emor By Rabbi Cantor Sam Levine ('19) You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy (Lev. 19:2) This is the thesis statement of what Bible scholars call “the Holiness Code” (Lev. 17-26). It is also, arguably, the thesis Read More >

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D'var Torah A D'var Torah for Parashat Behar By Rabbi Matthew Goldstone This week in Parashat Behar we learn about the laws of Shemitta, the sabbatical year. For six years we work the land and then in the seventh year the land is granted a Shabbat, a rest. Just as we are Read More >