The seven-week countdown to the holiday of Shavuot, the day when the Torah was given, has concluded. As part of the preparatory process of character refinement during this period —…
This week’s Torah Portion is called Bamidbar, which means “in the wilderness,” and it is the first portion in the book of Numbers. Not too surprisingly, the action takes place…
That’s one of the questions one might ask after reading this week’s double parasha, Behar-Bekhukotai,which describes an agricultural and financial system so lofty only God could conceive of it. The…
This week’s Torah Portion, Emor, includes the command to observe God’s sacred occasions (Leviticus 23: 1-2): “The Eternal spoke to Moses saying: Speak to the Israelite people and say to…
Torah comes from the same Hebrew word as “instruction.” Each commandment (and verse) in the Torah has its simple directive — to know what to do — along with its…
Dear Friends, During this period, beginning with Holocaust Remembrance Day last week, this week Remembrance Day for the valiant fallen soldiers in the IDF and victims of terror in Israel,…
I will always remember this week’s Torah portion, Tazria/Metzora, with a certain amount of fondness. Not particularly because of the subject matter, which is ritual impurity and skin afflictions, but…
This week’s Torah portion, Shmini (Leviticus 9-11), tells of the seven-day separation and consecration for Aaron and his sons to become ordained as the priests for initiation of sacrifice at…
In previous years, while reading the passages from the Haggadah at the Pesach seder, it may have required imagination to picture how, through an unforeseeable onslaught of natural forces, the…
Through our Eternal Covenant Jews have survived Two weeks ago (an eternity?) we finished the Book of Exodus and recited ‘chazak, chazak, v’nitchazeik’, be strong, be strong, let us strengthen…