As a Rabbi and as a citizen of the United States, I support the agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, Russia and Iran– The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. I encourage the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to endorse this agreement. The Obama administration has successfullyContinue reading “Seek Peace and Pursue It – Psalm 34.14”
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Shabbat Ki Tavo: The Butterfly’s Wing
How has the human race come to this, that human beings cause the suffering and death of other human beings, even unto a three year old, photos of whose dead body are now all over the Internet? To take our parashat hashavua at face value, the evil way that human beings treat each other is explained very succinctly, inContinue reading “Shabbat Ki Tavo: The Butterfly’s Wing”
Shabbat Ki Tetze: You Can’t Choose Whether, but You Can Choose How
The title of our parashat hashavua is ki tetze, “when you go out”. The Torah is continuing to give instruction for how we shall behave when we go out from our place, and a number of possibilities are offered here. What we come to realize is that there is a Jewish ethic for any act. TheseContinue reading “Shabbat Ki Tetze: You Can’t Choose Whether, but You Can Choose How”
Shabbat Shoftim: No Justice, No Peace
This parashat hashavua offers us so much of the guidance we need for our community relationships – the parashah begins with three perfect verses that cover so much ground. שֹׁפְטִים וְשֹׁטְרִים, תִּתֶּן-לְךָ בְּכָל-שְׁעָרֶיךָ, אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ, לִשְׁבָטֶיךָ; וְשָׁפְטוּ אֶת-הָעָם, מִשְׁפַּט-צֶדֶק. You must have judges and officers in all your gates which by theContinue reading “Shabbat Shoftim: No Justice, No Peace”
Shabbat Re’eh: Seeing, Iran and Others
Our parashat hashavua, called Re’eh, urges us, “look!”. The Torah relates that Moshe our leader is exhorting our ancestors to take a moment to stop and really see in a deeper sense. That is, he is telling us to realize something essential about our ability to understand the implications of what we see – and howContinue reading “Shabbat Re’eh: Seeing, Iran and Others”
Shabbat Ekev: Seeing What Is Being Born
איזהו חכם? הרואה את הנולד – Ayzehu hakham? HaRo’eh et haNolad, “who is wise? One who sees what is being born.” (Pirke Avot 2.9) So few of us, then, can think of ourselves as wise. We try in so many ways to affect our future, would give anything to know our future, to affect it inContinue reading “Shabbat Ekev: Seeing What Is Being Born”
Shabbat Nakhamu: Consolation?
This Shabbat, called Nakhamu after the first word of the Haftarah, meant to be a Shabbat of consolation. The first Shabbat after Tisha B’Av, that time of terrible destruction once long ago and now a time to face the equally terrifying consequences of our actions in our own days, is meant to reassure us that, afterContinue reading “Shabbat Nakhamu: Consolation?”
Shabbat Pinkhas: How Will You Answer Evil?
This week’s parashah is named for Pinkhas, who acted impulsively and killed two people. Incredibly, the Torah records G-d’s appreciation for the deed, awarding Pinkhas a divine and eternal “covenant of peace” (Numbers 25.12). The Rabbis of the Talmudic Era were troubled by this passage no less than we ourselves should be. “The law mayContinue reading “Shabbat Pinkhas: How Will You Answer Evil?”
Shabbat Shelakh-L’kha: Why So Negative?
The parashat hashavua for this week is Shelakh-L’kha. It chronicles a significant debacle in the lives of our ancestors, the Generation of the Wilderness: it is during the events described in this parashah that they doom themselves to remaining the wanderers they’ve become. One year and some months after the Exodus from Egypt, with our new understanding of the divine and a newContinue reading “Shabbat Shelakh-L’kha: Why So Negative?”
Shabbat B’Haalot’kha: What the Light Reveals
The parashat hashavua (Torah parashah for the week) begins with G-d’s command to the High Priest, Moshe’s brother Aharon: “When you raise [b’haalot’kha] light in the lamps, they shall be lit so as to illuminate the face of the menorah” (Numbers 8:2). If you remember that this was a menorah not of candles but of oil lamps, shaped asContinue reading “Shabbat B’Haalot’kha: What the Light Reveals”
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 