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A D'var Torah for Parashat Behar By Cantor Sandy Horowitz ('14) “This land is your land, this land is my land, from California to the New York island, from the redwood forests to the gulf-stream waters, this land was made for you and me.” This classic American anthem was written in 1940 by Woody Guthrie Read More >

Our Torah portion opens with the words ‘Ele toledot (Gen. 25:19) – variously translated as “These are the generations/records/lineage/descendants/begettings of…”; basically, carrying us into the next generation, and, in the case of this week’s portion, continuing the story of Isaac and Rebecca.  However, with the announcement of a barren wife (Gen. 25:21), the next generation is put in jeopardy. Ultimately, they will have children, but in looking back, what might they have shared with each other? I was walking in the field in the late afternoon;            I was riding on a camel… I looked up and saw her from afar;            I fell off my camel… and put on my veil… I heard about her generosity and strength;            He brought me into the tent that had been his mother’s… I loved her;            I loved him… In my loss she brought me comfort;            I had left my home and found comfort in his arms… Almost twenty years later and no children;            For almost twenty years we tried and tried… I cannot think of being with anyone else;            No handmaid, no second wife, no surrogate for us… I appealed to God – for my wife is barren;            I was right by his side – and in time, my own appeal: Oy! What did I ask for?

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 >

Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein The new year we began just last week stretches before us like an empty canvas and we pause to reflect before it. What are we going to paint on it this year? What will we write upon it? How do we make a difference with our lives? What really matters? It Read More >

Mountain, Field and House By Rabbi Yehonatan Chipman "How awesome is this place! This is naught but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven . . ." (Gen 28:17 This week's parashah describes Yaakov's unexpected and numinous encounter with God, en route from his home to the unknown land of his Read More >

Parashat Beha’alotekha By Barbara Rosenthal Birnbaum Until I learned the methods and strategies of feminist reading of the Bible, I would avoid rereading narratives such as the one about Miriam at the end of this week’s parashah -Beha’alotekha. This story (Numbers 12) is complex. It engenders many questions. It is fascinating.  But it always made Read More >

By Rabbi Jo David Korah Wasn’t Wrong? For the last six months I’ve been teaching a comparative religion course – “The Religious Experience” – at Berkeley College in Manhattan. The student body at Berkeley is predominantly black, Hispanic, and Christian, with a large number of foreign students, many from Africa. There are very few Jews Read More >

By Rabbi Enid Lader “As you are able, please stand for the Kol Nidre Service…” Kol Nidre…Such powerful words. Words many of us might not understand, but powerful nonetheless. Powerful through the connections… and the feelings… and the memories they invoke. As we enter through the gates of Yom Kippur, Kol Nidre is there almost Read More >

This week's parashah continues the detailed description of the different components of the tabernacle, its vessels, and the priestly vestaments. An interesting theme within Jewish interpretation is the parallel drawn between the Tabernacle, the Holy Temple, and the universe. The following sources trace this idea over a period of a thousand years. They begin with Read More >

by Rabbi Len Levin Moses: A Leader with a Small Ego A Dvar Torah for Vayikra There are two peculiarities in the opening of Leviticus that elude the English reader. The first is that the first clause is missing a subject. Vayikra el Moshe -- “and he called to Moses.” Who called? The kabbalists suppose Read More >