Yom Kippur and the journey of the heart By Rabbi Jeffrey B Kamins A prayer of Moshe, the man of God. “Adonai, you have been our refuge in every generation. Before the mountains came into being, and before You brought forth the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, you are everlasting God. You […]
This week we read the one portion of the Torah that is named after a woman, “Chayei Sarah” – the life of Sarah. Ironically, the parashah, which is named for its opening words, actually tells of her death and burial. Because the preceding story in the Torah concerns the “binding of Isaac”, the rabbinic tradition […]
Stories of vengeance and forgiveness. Ultimately, we are the stories we tell of ourselves, whether as an individual, a community or a people. This week’s narrative is a yarn of huge scope and dimension. We read the story of our ancestor Jacob on his return journey home after 20-years of exile from his family and […]
RECONCILIATION In this week’s parasha, we come to the powerful denouement of the epic story of Joseph and his brothers, one of bitterness and betrayal in its opening that slowly moves to an extraordinary moment of reconciliation. As we come toward the end of the book of Genesis, we finally arrive at the moment that […]
Freedom to serve Parashah Bo is the penultimate portion in the narrative known in the tradition as “Yetziat Mitzraim”, or the Exodus from Egypt. At the heart of the story of the Exodus is not just our freedom from oppression but our freedom to serve God. In the opening of this week’s parashah we hear […]
It says of Purim, “Mi Shenichnas Adar Marbim Simcha”. Yet, Purim is a story where nothing is at it seems to be. It opens with women being demeaned, yet while we see Vashti being humiliated and deposed, by the end of the story Esther has the utmost of the King’s trust, “even half the kingdom” […]
Vayikra, the third book of the Torah, is known in the tradition as “Torat Cohanim”, dealing as it does with many laws concerning the priests and their role in leading the people in service to God. Overall, the book confronts us with details of animal sacrifice, ritual purity, prohibited sexual relationships and punishments for disobedience; […]
Shabbat Hagadol, “the great Shabbat”, is the name given to the Shabbat before Pesach. The major element of Shabbat Hagadol is the special haftarah reading from the prophet Malachi, who speaks of the future day in which the hearts of children will be turned toward their parents and parents to their children. This can be […]
“These are My fixed times, the fixed times of God, which you shall proclaim as sacred occasions” (Leviticus 23:2) – so begins this week’s teaching of how we as Jews, construct sacred occasions in time: Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, in the order they are listed and the order we celebrate them. […]
