Search results for:

Click HERE   for an audio recording of this D'var Torah The Golden Calf: Not a Tantrum, but a Meltdown A D’var Torah for Parashat Ki Tissa and Shabbat Parah By Rabbi Katy Allen ('05) Perhaps the golden calf was inevitable, and perhaps even necessary. Egel ha’masekhah, the molten calf (Ex. 32:4), the meltdown– the internal or external loss Read More >

Click HERE  for an audio recording of this D'var Torah Where do we face in our holy space? A D’var Torah for Parshiyot Vayakhel-Pekudei By Rabbi Rob Scheinberg “Once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, “and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, Read More >

Click here  for an audio recording of this D'var Torah Keeping focus on sacred connections A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayikra by Rabbi Steven Altarescu ('14) The Book of Vayikra begins where Exodus leaves off. The Israelites have finished building the Mishkan and God has shown approval through the appearance of a cloud of God’s Presence. Exodus thus ends triumphantly with a description of the work Read More >

Click here for an audio recording of this D'var Torah Constancy and Careful Guarding: How to Link the Jewish Past with the Future A D’var Torah for Parashat Tzav By Rabbi Mitchell Blank ('21) This coming Shabbat is the last one before Passover begins (Shabbat HaGadol) and the Torah reading this year falls on Parashat Tzav. Both Tzav and Exodus 12, the chapter that details Read More >

Click here for an audio recording of this D'var Torah A D’var Torah for Hol HaMoed Pesah By Rabbi Ira J. Dounn ('17) The Passover story, which we recount in our seders this week, highlights Moses (on behalf of G-d) telling Pharoah to “Let My people go!” (Exodus 5:1) And yet I wonder: What are the things that Read More >

The Bitter and the Sweet A D’var Torah for Parashat Shemini By Rabbi Greg Schindler ('09) Most of us are familiar with the concept of a hyperlink. Case in point: hyperlink. When you click on a hyperlink, you begin a journey connecting the idea on the page to a related concept. Quite the innovation, right? Yes, indeed. The hyperlinks embedded in the Read More >

Click here for an audio recording of this D'var Torah A D’var Torah for Parshiyot Tazria-Metzorah By Rabbi Matthew Goldstone Reading Parshiyot Tazria-Metzorah this year I can’t help but think about bodily autonomy and the conversations taking place across the United States about the legality of abortion and related procedures. The Torah establishes a system in which those in power, the priests, Read More >

“Hokheiah tokhiah et amitekha.” “You shall surely reprove your fellow.” (Leviticus 19:17) Giving critical feedback, or tokhehah (often translated as “reproof” or “rebuke”), is a positive mitzvah in the Torah. Perhaps this shouldn’t surprise us, as constructive critique and feedback is a primary way that we learn and grow. And yet, already in the time of the Talmud, two of the greatest sages Read More >

Lo tehal’lelu You shall not profane pollute desecrate. Do not. You and I and each of us, holy leaders great and small, let us think twice about what we do, let us remember and pay attention, that we do not profane pollute desecrate… …ourselves or others (Lev.21:9) — precious are you are they am Read More >

AJR ordains pluralistic rabbis and cantors ready to serve Jewish communities by embracing people where they are. Get to know our Community AJR in the News LEARN ABOUT SOME OF OUR INITIATIVES “What clicked for me was the pluralistic approach, the flexibility, and the rigorous yet supportive learning Read More >