Before the Grace After Meals, or as it is known in Hebrew the Birchat HaMazon, the leader announces to the group, “bi-rshoot chavari,” or “with the permission of my friends.” To which, the group responds by nodding their heads in agreement and…
Torah Thoughts – Elul 5779 “The Wisdom of Elul”
Yes, it’s true, I am back from sabbatical. And, what perfect timing, not only is this week the official start of the school year, but it also represents the beginning of the High Holy Day season. This past Sunday, we not only…
Torah Thoughts – Shelach Lecha (Numbers 13:1 – 15:41) “Always Choose the Grapes”
Hard to believe it, but twenty years ago this July, I was accepted into rabbinical school. And, five years later, on June 6, 2004, I officially became a rabbi. The Torah portion the Shabbat of my ordination was the same…
Torah Thoughts Beholetecha 5779 – “My Menorah”
This week’s Torah portion, Beholetecha, begins with the lighting of the menorah. Menorahs are often some of our most important ritual items, sitting in places of esteem in our home. But, they are not always the easiest to take care of, with…
Torah Thoughts Naso (Numbers 4:21 – 7:89) – “A Blessing on the Handmaids”
In an episode from season two of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopian vision of a future run by Biblical precepts, one of the central characters blesses a baby using the words of the Priestly Blessing: “May God watch over you…
Torah Thoughts – Bemidbar Numbers 1:1-4:20 -> “Who Counts? How We Count? And Why it Matters?”
Every ten years or so, the American Jewish community sits on pins and needles waiting on the results of the latest demographics survey. The last one was done in 2013 by the Pew Research Center, giving, as always a mixed picture…
Torah Thoughts Bechukotai (Leviticus 26:3 – 27:34) – “Blame it on the Grandparents”
At Sam Usen’s Bar Mitzvah this past weekend, he made a point of thanking his grandparents, telling them he loved them, and then blaming them for his being there at all. This, of course, was done in jest, but brought…
Torah Thoughts Behar (Leviticus 25:1-26:2) “Climbing into the Unknown and Unknowable”
In the spring of 1994, I, and a few friends from Hebrew University, took the midnight busses from Jerusalem to Mount Meron in the Northern Galilee to celebrate Lag Ba’Omer, a minor Jewish holiday observed this past Wednesday night and…
Torah Thoughts Emor (Leviticus 21:1-24:23) “The Torah’s Death Crisis”
This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Emor, is obsessed with death. It begins with the haunting line, directed at the priests: “L’Nefesh Lo Yitmah B’Amam.” I offer it in the Hebrew, because the English is somewhat undecipherable. It can be roughly translated: “the dead…
Torah Thoughts Kedoshim 5779 (Leviticus 19:1 – 20:27) “Being a Good Neighbor”
We live in the city of good neighbors, but what does that really mean? For me, it is the bouquet of beautiful lilies brought in a few days after the shooting in Poway, California. And the young man who, with…