Free Will or God’s Will: Contradictory or Complementary? The power and capacity to choose is critical in Judaism. It is the…
Two Minutes of Torah
This week’s parsha ends the three-week/three-parsha cycle of Jacob’s story. The three occur, to me, as a unit, if for…
Reunions We encounter our patriarch Jacob in a time of trouble in this week’s parasha, vayishlach. After having tricked his…
In 1985 Alison Bechdel created something called “The Bechdel Test,” a set of standards that a film must meet in…
Our parasha this week is named Chayei Sarah, the life of Sarah, yet in the second verse we are told of Sarah’s death….
The characters in our Torah and the stories of their lives do not often unfold as exemplary. On the contrary,…
How do we treat the strangers among us? One of the stories we read parshat lech lecha is that of Abraham (named…
“Occasionally… what you have to do is go back to the beginning and see everything in a new way.” These…
Difficult moments in leadership During these High Holy Days rabbis across the world take the opportunity to share their words…
It is a jarring ride through the Torah during the Yamim Noraim. We read special selections like the Binding of…