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By Rabbi Kaya Stern-Kaufman And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  (Ezek. 36:26) In Parashat Va'eira the Torah presents Pharaoh's response to the successive plagues meted out Read More >

By Rabbi Dorit Edut The recent tragedy of the cold-blooded shooting of twenty-six young children and four of their adult staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut shocked our entire nation. After ungluing ourselves from the media reports, some of us looked for spiritual and practical ways to express our sorrow and identification Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin David Ben Gurion said that whoever does not believe in miracles is not a realist. He may have had in mind the day in 1948 that the fate of Jerusalem depended on negotiation of a cease-fire before the supply of food and water would run out, or a thousand other improbable Read More >

By Rabbi Robert Freedman The account in Exodus of the revelation at Sinai emphasizes physical boundaries. "YHVH said to Moses, 'I will come to you in a thick cloud.'" (Exodus 19:9). "You shall set bounds for the people round about, saying, 'Beware of going up the mountain or touching the border of it. Whoever touches Read More >

By Rabbi Isaac Mann One of the most popular derashot (homiletical interpretations) that rabbis make use of when delivering sermons on the Sabbath of Terumah is one that explains the reason that the Torah forbids the removal from the Aron (the Ark) of the staves that were used to carry it. The other vessels of the Mishkan (the Read More >

By Rabbi Dorit Edut Cows and Kashering for Pesah Passover, or Pesah, marks a half-way point in our Jewish calendar. Though it comes in the first month of the Jewish year, Nissan, it is actually six months since Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. During this month before Passover, we mark almost each Shabbat with Read More >

By Rabba Kaya Stern-Kaufman Mitzvah gedolah l'hiyot b'simhah tamid-It is a great mitzvah to always be happy. -R. Nachman of Bratslav The light is ascending, spring approaches, the season of ge'ulah, of redemption, is upon us and therefore Joy is required! The essence of the celebration of Purim is Joy. The month of Adar is Read More >

By Rabbi Judith Edelstein In this week's parashah, Mishpatim, "Laws," we have plummeted from the terse, but exalted proclamation of the Ten Commandments in last week's reading, Yitro, to the nitty gritty details of everyday life. This section, often referred to as the "Book of the Covenant," although not exhaustive, as it does not cover Read More >

by Rabbi Len Levin Sacred Space and Sacred Time: This week we take out two Sifrei Torah. In the first we complete the book of Exodus, especially the long sequence of Chapters 25-40 which is devoted to the construction of the Tabernacle and all its appurtenances. In the second we begin the narrative of the Read More >

by Rabbi Bob Freedman The morning liturgy in our prayerbook includes a section for study of the laws of offerings. The rationale for this comes from Taanit 27b where the rabbis envision Abraham foreseeing a time to come when worship by means of offerings will no longer be possible. He asks God, "What will happen Read More >