Torah Thought

Every Jewish child grows up hearing, at Hanukkah time, the story of “the miracle of the oil,” how one day’s supply of consecrated oil lasted eight days as the Temple was rededicated. It’s explained as the reason Hanukkah lasts eight days and why we eat foods fried in...

With the blessing and urging of both father Isaac and mother Rebekah, Jacob leaves home. Indeed, he flees. There are two reasons for his hasty departure: Esau’s wrath and the need for a proper bride. The complex and conflicting dynamics in the household of Abraham’s...

The 1890s was an era in some ways like our own. Anti-immigrant hatreds in America were on the rise, even as businesses relied on the immigrants for low-wage labor. American nativist and racist groups were making new recruits and calling for the exclusion of the...

(Genesis 12:1–17:27) Noah was destined to be neither the father of the Jewish people nor the founder of our faith. Though the most righteous in his corrupt generation, he failed to reach out and save human lives besides those of his family. Thus, the rabbis who were...

Thank G-d, I am married to an amazing woman and have five incredible boys. Every year at anniversaries and birthdays we celebrate each other, give gifts, eat cake, or in my wife’s case, a lot of chocolate, and the next day, our lives continue. We celebrate, sing, take...

(Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8) With the High Holy Days 5778 soon upon us, how reflective of their grateful spirit and challenging thrust is this Parasha! The Israelites were taught that re-entering the Promised Land is more than a physical act. At the core of this great...

For congregational rabbis, this is a season of anxiety, but also of hope. The arrival of the seven Haftarot of Consolation after Tisha b’Av reminds us that we have less than two months to get our sermons written and services planned for the High Holy Days. (Had I not...

About two decades ago, a bat mitzvah student asked me a familiar question, but with a surprising twist. She said, “Rabbi, is God a He?” And I answered, “No, He’s not.” Then we both thought for two seconds about what I had just said, and simultaneously, we burst out...

Three thousand, three hundred, and twenty-nine years ago, Moshe (Moses) announced to the Jewish people that He would be ascending Mount Sinai to receive the Torah for the Jewish people. The Midrash tells us that the Jewish people protested. They said, “We want to see...

At this sacred season of re-consecration to recollection, we are poised between Yom Hashoah’s monumental burden of sorrow and Yom Ha’ Atzmaout’s transforming joy. We pause at this great twilight oscillating between the helplessness of Yeoush’s despair and Hatikvah’s...

Passover in the time of Deuteronomy: What a spectacle! We all got up and made pilgrimage to Jerusalem, pitching our tents on the surrounding hills. The priest helped us accomplish our lamb sacrifice, which we enjoyed in the evening cool of Nisan. It was a peak...

Purim’s extraordinary fun masks and matches the extraordinary seriousness of the life and death issues behind it, while allowing for the healthy release of pent-up tension and emotion. After all, a threat of genocide hanging over a vulnerable people such as the Jews...

One year is ending and another is beginning. We stand before G-d and ask him to bless us this year. We think of all of the good things that happened over the past year and hope that they will be repeated and multiplied. We think of all of the bad things—or the not so...

The 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attack on America is almost upon us. Let us stop and reflect on this moment. As Jews, let us also see this moment through the lens of Torah. The 9/11 attacks were proof that there are people who hate us and the freedoms we stand...

We all feel hurt when something we love is taken away from us, especially something that we ourselves worked hard to build. Who could know this better than Moses, who reminds us in this week’s Torah portion how he pleaded with God to allow him to enter the promised...

Remember Mr. Ed, the talking horse of the early 60s sitcom? I think of him every year when Parshat Balak (Numbers 22:2-25:9) rolls around, as it does this week. The chumash Etz Hayim describes Balak as containing “what may be the only comic passage in the Torah,”...

This coming Monday, most Americans will celebrate Memorial Day with pilgrimages to malls and outdoor spaces. Shopping and the performance of beginning- of-summer rituals will be the order of the day. But a few of our fellow citizens will reenact the ritual that gave...

“Rabbi Chanina ben Chachinai said: One who is awake at night or goes on the road by himself, and turns his heart to wasteful things, this person is taking his life in his hands.” —Ethics of Our Fathers The above text gives us an important practical lesson: If you are...

The Biblical account of the celebrated Exodus from Egypt became the leitmotif of Rabbinic theology, perceiving in the Israelites’ redemption from a House of Bondage God’s greatness, guidance and goodness. Thus the Shalosh Regalim, the three Pilgrim Festivals of...

The Passover seder is one of the most observed and memorable rituals on the Jewish calendar. What is it that makes the seder so special? After all, it’s the same every year—the same food, the same text, the same mishigas—or so it would seem. In fact, no two seders are...

“No human can see me and live,” said God to Moses. Why might that be? When the Torah was revealed at Mount Sinai and the presence of God descended upon the mountain, the Israelites were repeatedly warned to stay away lest somehow the incredible force of God’s presence...

I know when Purim time comes around that it is a time for joy and silliness —and I enjoy it as much as anybody. However, I also regret that our silliness celebration often masks (pun intended) the fact that Purim is our holiday. What do I mean by that? Purim is the...

“Hashem spoke to Moshe saying, “When you take a census of the Children of Israel according to their numbers, every man shall give Hashem an atonement for his soul when counting them, so that there will not be a plague among them when counting them.” (Exodus 30:11)...

Every winter, the Jewish calendar rolls around to Parshat Terumah, a Torah portion whose every word is devoted to the details of the portable tabernacle that the Israelites will carry from Egypt to the Promised Land. It’s all lengths, widths, and materials: a distinct...

How do Jews fit into God’s plan to civilize the world? If we were chauvinistic, the question would not even arise in our minds. But since we are not, the question “Why did God give the Ten Commandments to the Children of Israel, of all people?” gains its force. The...

The two consecutive Parshiyot in the Book of Exodus (Sefer Shemot) of Varea and Bo serve as the most dramatic setting for a contest between two contenders for the divine title. Moses represents the unseen God of Freedom of the enslaved Israelites. In opposition stands...

We rabbis often say that Hanukkah and Christmas have nothing in common except for the coincidence of a December date. I am no longer persuaded of that truism. In America, we love our birthdays. We eat cake, blow out candles, make wishes, receive presents, read corny...

The great and most colorful Joseph saga extends over four Torah portions and 13 chapters! How opportune it is as we celebrate the miracle of Hanukkah and the reading of Joseph’s awesome adventures, that the Jewish experience has often been to find ourselves like...

The Medrash tells us about a man named Yosef Meshisa. The context of the Medrash makes it sound like he lived at the time of the Greeks. He was what we would call a traitor. He joined the Greeks, adopted their culture, and assisted them in military strategy. When the...

With the blessing and urging of both father Isaac and mother Rebekah, Jacob leaves home. Indeed, he flees. There are two reasons for his hasty departure: Esau’s wrath and the need for a proper bride. The complex and conflicting dynamics in the household of Abraham’s...

You are putting your children to bed, and the transition is made easier for them by the soothing ritual of the bed-time story. Perhaps a bit restless, you attempt to modify the oft-told tale, but your children bring you up short. “No, Daddy, tell it the right way!” We...

Noah was not destined to be the father of the Jewish people, nor the founder of our faith. Though the most righteous one in his corrupt generation, he failed to reach out and save human lives besides those of his own family. Thus, the rabbis who were aware of Noah’s...