“Creating a World without Blemish” At the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Chukat, we learn about a red heifer, that not only had to be completely red, but also without blemish, “she ein bah mum” (Numbers 19:2). This was…
Torah Thoughts – Beha’alotcha – Numbers.8.1-12.16 – “Celebrating 4 Generations of CSS”
Last Saturday afternoon, Audrey Shine celebrated her Bat Mitzvah at CSS. What made this particularly important not just to the Shine family, but to our entire CSS community, is that Audrey is the third generation of her family to become…
Torah Thoughts – Nasso – Numbers.4.21-7.89 – “There is no me in community”
When we rise for the Barchu prayer on Friday Night, I often ask people to look around the room. Then I say, “Each and every one of you is important to our service tonight. Without you here, we would not…
Torah Thoughts – Bamidbar – “What Numbers Can’t Tell Us”
This much we know; on October 7, at 6:30 in the morning that day Jerusalem time the attack began. Over 5,000 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza in a span of 20 minutes. 2,900 Hamas militants stormed the border,…
Torah Thoughts – Behar Leviticus 25:1-26:2 – “The Distinction Between Work and Play”
The summer after eleventh grade, I worked at Camp Ramah in the Poconos. The camp was affiliated with the Conservative movement, but I considered myself Orthodox at the time. This often posed challenges for me over the course of the…
Torah Thoughts – Emor – Leviticus.21.1-24.23 – “The Siren of Hope”
When the siren sounds in Israel at 11 am on Yom Hazikaron, everything stops. Nary a household is without loss. Nary a household is without pain. The memories of loved ones struck down in faraway wars and recent battles flash…
Torah Thoughts – Pekudei – Exodus.38.21-40.38 – “A Blessing for the Journey”
This past week, I drove down to Philadelphia to join colleagues in the Reform movement at our annual convention. In preparing to leave on any journey, I find I am most nervous in the hours before I leave. This is…
Torah Thoughts – Vayakhel – Exodus.35.1-38.20 – “Won’t you be my neighbor?”
For Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger and Noar A’wad, the question of who their neighbors were was confusing and upsetting. Were their neighbors only the Israeli settler or Palestinian Arab communities they respectively lived amongst in the West Bank or were they…
Torah Thoughts – Ki Tisa – Exodus 30.11-34.35 – “A Molten God”
I finally watched Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer with my son Boaz. Without giving anything away, what stood out most was the dramatization of the initial test of the bomb on July 16, 1945. Nolan and his cinematographer, Hoyte van Hoytema, brought…
Torah Thoughts -Tetzaveh – Exodus 27:20-30:10 – “Your Way is the Right Way”
Many times in my career as a rabbi, I have been asked about the right way to do a particular Jewish ritual. Whether it is lighting Shabbat candles on Shabbat, putting earth into a grave during a burial, or what…