Community
- 5782, 5783, Ancestors, Brooklyn, Collaboration, Community, Goals, High Holidays, Ritual, Rosh Hoshannah, Simchat Torah, Sukkot, Yiddish, Yom Kippur
Welcome, Again, to the Yontifs of Yontifs
Last year, somewhere in the mix of the high holidays that came early, in the waning summer days of September, I wrote what was a normal reflective post for the new year, that…
- 5782, Aaron, Chukat, Community, Death, Eleazar, Journey, Midbar, Miracles, Miriam, Moses, Parsha, Poetry, Priests, Punishment, Purity, Red Heifer, Sacrifice, Seraphim, Songs
Fierce: Consequences, Journeying, Whining, Song
Three chapters pack in a lot of action this week in Parashat Chukat. When I first read the text and was pondering what stuck out to me this year, I realized that the…
- 5782, Community, Confusion, Despair, Hope, Korach, Midbar, Parsha, Protest, Punishment, Rebellion, Responsibility, Uprising
On the Heels of Desparation
Since I didn’t write this last week, I’ve had several days to process more thoughts about Parashat Korach, including reactions to dvarim from others. With that in mind, this week, as so many…
- 5782, Canaan, Community, Disappointment, Fear, Grapes, Hope, Journey, Midbar, Negev, Parsha, Power, Questions, Scouts, Sh'lakh, Wilderness
Scouting for the Best Response
Half a year later… The past six months have been filled with new friends, Shabbos dinners, concerts, explorations around NYC, a trip west (Arizona & California), a fabulous birthday party, dissertation work, a…
- Commandments, Community, Exodus, Interpretation, Israelites, Judges, Komps Kaos, Law, Mishpatim, Mitzvah, Moses, Narrative, New York, Parsha, Rules, Shemot, Sinai, Torah
Judging Rules
Parashat Mishpatim begins with, “And these are the judgments which you will set before them.” Sometimes the word for judgments, the title of this parsha, mishpatim, gets translated as rules…which isn’t quite right.…
- Aramean, Blessing, Circumcision, Community, Covenant, Curse, Days of Awe, Deuteronomy, Egypt, Exodus, Heart, High Holidays, Israel, Israelites, Nitzavim, Pesach, Rosh Hoshannah, Yom T'ruah
L’Chaim in 5777!
“So keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.” Tonight’s Shabbat is the last of 5776. Sunday night we begin celebrating the a…
- Amalek, Battle, Commandments, Community, Deuteronomy, Holiness, Israel, Israelites, Ki Tetzei, Land, Parsha, Rules
Preparations for Holy Living
“When you go out to battle against your enemies…” Moshe’s final speech to the people he led out of Egypt continues. When you go out – Ki Teitzei, this week’s parsha, is named from…
- Blessing, Community, Curse, Davening, Deuteronomy, Farewell, Israelites, Land, Minyan, Mitzvah, Parsha, Re'eh, Sacrifice, Shabbat, Worship
Centering and Recentering
Sight. Protection. Care. Life. Legalism. Rules. Rabbis. Pharisees. Kashrut. Chagim. Atonement. Mishnah. Debate. Holiness. Blessings. Curses. Land. People. Nation. Identity. History. Modernity. Destruction. Worship. Sacrifice. Desire. Place. Mitzvot. Obedience. Foreigner. Money. Generosity. Poor.…
- Assembly, Community, Congregation, Creativity, Haftorah, Instructions, Israelites, Moses, Obedience, Offering, Parsha, Tabernacle, Temple, Vayakhel
Enjoining the Joining (of Hands)
Moses has received G!d’s instructions for the Israelites, including the construction of the Tabernacle so he could dwell among them. However, for these words to become a reality, the people would have to…