Love in Elul This Shabbat, we enter the month of Elul, the full month of preparation necessary to make the…
Two Minutes of Torah
How do we pass our values onto our children? In Parshat Eikev Moses outlines the imperative for the Israelites to…
Parshat Va’etchanan is packed with good stuff. We read both the words of the Shema and the Ten Commandments. In…
Last week’s parasha ends with a quite gruesome event. Pinchas, who is of the priestly family, sees an Israelite man…
Turning curses into blessings Parashat Balak, this week’s parasha, contains an infamous biblical story. The king of Moab, Balak, feared…
When do we challenge authority and with what intent? Our parsha this week includes not one, but two rebellions against Moses and Aaron: one over Aaron‘s priestly authority and the other about Moses‘ civic leadership. Some scholars argue that there are two conflicting narratives woven into one here, and the message is essentially the same: the power-hungry will never prevail. Korach levels a claim against Aaron & Moses, citing the holiness of every…
The start of the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar, contains a census of the Israelite people. This enumeration of individuals functions…
The Deuteronomist, whether a person or a school of thought, added some fire and brimstone into this last parasha of…
Gratitude. A caution against over-reliance on personal merit and the resulting ego. An early look at privilege and power in…
A sofer, a scribe of Jewish texts including Torah scrolls, mezuzzot, tefillin texts and more, has a difficult job. Not…