Haftorah
- 5784, Bereshit, Genesis, Haftorah, Hope, Isaiah, Israel, Lekh Lekha, Palestine, Parsha, Strength, War
Can We Rest From Weariness?
The last three weeks feel interminable, moving like a dense fog and whirling us around all at once. News of deaths, illness, injuries, human suffering and crises, hostages held during this entire span…
- Elijah, Gadol, Haftorah, Haggadah, Hebrew, Jerusalem, Liturgy, Malachi, Messiah, Nisan, Parsha, Pesach, Petition, Praise, Prayer, Return, Seder, Shabbat, Spring
The Greatest Shabbos of 5776
Tonight is Shabbat haGadol – the Great Shabbat, the Shabbat that falls just before Pesach. I guess that means this year is doubly great, since Pesach falls on Shabbos, too! Weeks of excitement…
- 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…
- Altar, Ark, Curse, Descendants, Destruction, Flood, Generations, Haftorah, Lawlessness, Noach, Parsha, Rain, Righteous, Sages, Strange, Yiddish
The Rains Came Down and the Floods Came Up
Some stories are so familiar that we can recite them with our eyes closed. Last week (Bereshit) was like that. So is this week. And this trend will likely continue as we read…
- Annual Cycle, Bereshit, Dialogue, Haftorah, JTS, Parsha, Perception, Process, Questions, Relationship, Sages, Scripture, Thought, Torah
Process
This week was fun – we just finished a yearly process: reading the Torah all the way through! It seems only right, then, that the first Torah portion, Bereshit, tells us about G!d’s…
- Annual Cycle, Burial, Creativity, Death, Deuteronomy, End, Haftorah, Inheritance, Israelites, Journey, Land, Moses, Nebo, Parsha, Poem, Presence, Prophet, Simchat Torah, Tribe, Vzot haBrakhah
Time Presses On
The end of a year. The end of a cycle. Could it really have come upon us so quickly? Have we really finished reading the Torah again? For a moment a person might…
- Abraham Joshua Heschel, Death, Deuteronomy, Haazinu, Haftorah, Harvest, Hope, Journey, Land, Moses, Parsha, Poem, Praise, Prayer, Provision, Remember, Rock, Simchat Torah, Sukkot, Wilderness of Zin
Poems and Praise
It’s the middle of the week – and I want to talk about the parsha we’re still studying! Parashat Ha’azinu (Deuteronomy 32) is the next to last in the cycle – then comes…
- Days of Awe, Deuteronomy, Haftorah, High Holidays, Israelites, Joshua, Journey, Land, Mercy, Moses, Parsha, Repentance, Rosh Hoshannah, Second Temple Period, Shabbat, Strength, Transgression, Vayelekh, Yom Kippur
Turning With Awe
This week is Shabbat Shuva – the Sabbath of Turning, or Repentance. It comes between the civil new year, Rosh Hoshannah, and the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. This is a special Shabbat…
- Altar, Aramean, Covenant, Days of Awe, Deuteronomy, Haftorah, High Holidays, Instructions, Israelites, Ki Tavo, Land, Light, Offering, Parsha, Pesach, Promises, Repentance, Rosh Hoshannah, Slichot, Torah
A Light in the Land
This week’s portion, Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8), continues to be about the goodness of a land the Israelites are about to enter as G!d promised. The haftorah, Isaiah 60, connects to the promises…