Category: Teachings
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Spiritual Response to Roe V. Wade
This teaching appeared on the Inside Out Wisdom and Action (IOWA) blog. Spiritual Response To Roe V Wade
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Starting From the Same Beginner’s Mind
This teaching appeared as part of Hot Off The Shtender, a series of teachings from SVARA fellows. Starting From The Same Beginner’s Mind
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Behar 5782
Parashat Behar, our Torah reading for this week, introduces us to the Shmita year. Every seven years, Leviticus/Vayikra instructs us that the land must lie fallow—no agricultural or food production is permitted and there are a number of other restrictions put into place in addition. As it so happens, 5782…
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Pesach 5782 On The Seder As A Living Experience
This piece can now be found on ExploringJudaism.com as part of EJ’s 5784 Passover Reader. Download the entire reader here. On seder night, we embark on a holy commemorative journey through the Haggadah as we move spiritually and temporally from degradation to praise. We do not merely recount by rote…
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Finding My Possibility Model
A version of the below piece originally appeared as part of Hot Off The Shtender, a series of reflection pieces from SVARA. It is hard, nay impossible, to adequately capture the feelings that came over me when I learned about the passing of a dear friend: the fierce and…
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Shabbat HaChodesh 5782
I wish to dedicate this dvar Torah to the memory of Sheryl Grossman. Her love of Torah and her steadfast, unapologetic commitment to justice for people with disabilities will remain with me always. She taught me that one could both be a lover of Torah and a fighter for justice…
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On The Lessons We Can Learn from Queens Esther and Vashti: Purim 5782
Purim is a holiday filled with paradox. It is simultaneously the happiest festival on the Jewish calendar and a day on which we reckon with all of the ways in which we experience brokenness in our world and in our communities. We are feeling that keenly this year in particular…
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Torah From A Mussar Perspective Mishpatim
This piece originally was published as part of Torah From a Mussar Perspective in 5781/2021. During this pandemic time, I have found myself frequently moving between periods of normal energy and periods of considerable fatigue. I note that the latter is not unexpected, given all that has occurred in…
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Torah From A Mussar Perspective Shmot 5782
This commentary originally appeared as part of Torah From A Mussar Perspective from the Mussar Institute. The Mussar tradition understands that we aren’t meant to simply read the parasha of the week but are instead invited to live deeply with and into it. This accords with the idea that…
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Torah From A Mussar Perspective Vayeshev 5782
The below commentary first appeared as part of Torah From A Mussar Perspective through the Mussar Institute. Parshat Vayeshev contains within it the multi-faceted story of Judah and Tamar. Judah, Jacob and Leah’s fourth son, has journeyed away from his brothers and has married a woman named Shua with…
Rabbi Lauren Tuchman 