Upright Writing – Shabbat Terumah 5779 (2019)
February 8, 2019The auditorium at Temple Emanuel in New York City was filled to the brim this past Tuesday evening for a gathering of 70 Torah scrolls. The scrolls, all originally from [...]
The auditorium at Temple Emanuel in New York City was filled to the brim this past Tuesday evening for a gathering of 70 Torah scrolls. The scrolls, all originally from [...]
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of participating in a four day, largely silent, meditation and spirituality retreat. A program of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS), the retreat [...]
In these few words, Heschel channels and summarizes an ancient rabbinic interpretive tradition. The Torah’s phrase, “The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain” (Exodus 19:20), [...]
The fourth plague perplexes me. ‘Arov in Hebrew, and translated either as ‘a mixture of wild beasts’ or as ‘swarms of mixed insects’ the affliction involves an unruly, and perhaps unnatural combining [...]
With little or no fanfare, the Torah describes the reunion of Jacob and Joseph. “Joseph ordered his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel…”(Genesis 46:29). A closer [...]
Jewish tradition assigns a specific psalm to each day of the week and to each of the holidays. The special psalm for Hanukkah, Psalm 30, includes a hint of that [...]
With Hanukkah fast approaching, it must be Joseph time. Parashat Vayeshev begins the long cycle of Joseph stories which conclude the book of Genesis. We pick up the story at [...]
Song lyrics frequently float around my brain. This week, a verse of Paul Simon’s ‘You Can Call Me Al’ has run in a pretty constant loop. Here goes: A man [...]
Divisions abound. Red America, Blue America. The House. The Senate. Israel. Diaspora. Left. Right. Black. White. Christian. Muslim. Jew. Everywhere one looks we’re divided. Even with some historical perspective – [...]
The longest chapter in the Book of Genesis ends with the touching moment of Isaac and Rebekah’s first meeting. Rebekah has traveled from her home in Haran, accompanied by Abraham’s [...]