Tag Archives: Palestine

Shabbat Shoftim: Judges and Us (Not Police)

צֶ֥דֶק צֶ֖דֶק תִּרְדֹּ֑ף לְמַ֤עַן תִּֽחְיֶה֙ וְיָרַשְׁתָּ֣ אֶת־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לָֽךְ   Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you. (Deut. 16.20) On this Shabbat Shoftim I have a hiddush to share with you. In Torah study, a hiddush – חידוש – isContinue reading “Shabbat Shoftim: Judges and Us (Not Police)”

Shabbat Nakhamu: Finding Consolation In Terrible Times

נחמו נחמו עמי…נחמוה עליונים נחמוה תחתונים. נחמוה חיים ונחמוה מתים. נחמוה בעווה“ז ונחמוה לעוה“ב. נחמוה על עשרת השבטים, נחמוה על שבט יהודה ובנימין, לפי שכתוב שתי בכיות: ”“בכה תבכה בלילה“ (איכה א,ב) לכך נאמר ”נחמו נחמו עמי“ (ילקוט שמעני, ישעיה). עיטורי תרוה שבת נחמו Nahamu nahamu ami, be consoled, be consoled: in realms above andContinue reading “Shabbat Nakhamu: Finding Consolation In Terrible Times”

Tisha B’Av 5785: Our Joy is turned to Sorrow

קרא עלי מעוד (איכה א.טו) בגמרא: ויבכו העם בלילה ההוא – ואותו לילה ליל תשעה בעב היה ואמר הקב״ה״ אתם בכיתם בכיה שלחינם ואני אקבע לכן בו בכיה לדורות (סנחדרין ד).  declared upon me this appointed time (Eikha 1.15). In the Gemara: “the people wept that night” – that same night was the night ofContinue reading “Tisha B’Av 5785: Our Joy is turned to Sorrow”

Shabbat Hazon: Seeing

The human capacity for avoiding uncomfortable truths is so very well-developed. Consider the time-tested, familiar, absolutely transparently false ways we get around what we don’t want to face: it’s someone else’s fault. I was busy and must have missed it. That can’t possibly be true. I was unavoidably detained. Circumstances conspired against me. You don’tContinue reading “Shabbat Hazon: Seeing”

Shabbat BeHar-BeHukotai: This is Exhausting

so much suffering everywhere you look וְלֹ֤א תוֹנוּ֙ אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־עֲמִית֔וֹ וְיָרֵ֖אתָ מֵֽאֱלֹהֶ֑-ךָ כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י ה’ אֱלֹהֵ-כֶֽם Do not wrong one another, but fear Eternity. (Lev. 25.17)  Do not read עמיתו but אמיתו , not “your neighbor” but “your truth”. Do not wrong your truth. – D’vash HaSadeh  Friends, this is hard. Every week brings freshContinue reading “Shabbat BeHar-BeHukotai: This is Exhausting”

Shabbat Akharei Mot-Kedoshim: “after death, holiness.”

Regardless of what I might want to write about on this Shabbat, like any Torah commentator I am guided, bidden and challenged by the parashat hashavua, the assigned parashah of the week. This week it is a double parashah: Akharei Mot and Kedoshim, “after death” and “holiness.” This is a not-unusual pairing, but it seemsContinue reading “Shabbat Akharei Mot-Kedoshim: “after death, holiness.””

Shabbat Tazria-Metzora: Seems To Me

Don’t Believe Everything You Think Our ancestors dealt with forces beyond their control just as we do; in this week’s parashah, which joins together the parshiyot called Tazria and Metzora, what we read according to the third year of the Triennial Cycle for Torah begins with some kind of moldy growth detected upon the wallsContinue reading “Shabbat Tazria-Metzora: Seems To Me”

Shabbat Shelakh L’kha: Israel Is Neither Here Nor There

This week’s parashah is a turning point for our people, and not a good one. Astonishingly enough, the journey from the foot of Mt Sinai to the edge of what the Torah calls the Land of the Promise is relatively very short: our ancestors began to journey in last week’s parashah and already they haveContinue reading “Shabbat Shelakh L’kha: Israel Is Neither Here Nor There”

From Whence Our Help

The established leadership of the American Jewish community is freaking out. Why is the response to the horrific events of October 7 2023 in some ways more extreme here than in Israel? For some time now I’ve been convinced that we are in transition to a new Third Era of Jewish life; that as aContinue reading “From Whence Our Help”

Shabbat Toldot: It Can Stop Here

Have you ever been vilified? Or known someone who was? We tend to shake our heads over the person as well as the process, decrying “cancel culture” but believing that the lashon hara’ must have some root in truth. Our parashat hashavua describes two brothers, twins, who are quite different. One loves the outdoors andContinue reading “Shabbat Toldot: It Can Stop Here”