Tag: Lauren Tuchman

  • Finding My Possibility Model

    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…

  • Shabbat HaChodesh 5782

    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…

  • On The Lessons We Can Learn from Queens Esther and Vashti: Purim 5782

    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…

  • Rabbi Lauren Tuchman Interviewed in Lilith Magazine

    Rabbi Lauren Tuchman Interviewed in Lilith Magazine

    From Moses To COVID: Rabbi Lauren Tuchman On Disability Inclusion

  • Torah From A Mussar Perspective Mishpatim

    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…

  • 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…

  • Torah From A Mussar Perspective Vayeshev 5782

    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…

  • Thoughts For Yom Kippur 5782

    Thoughts For Yom Kippur 5782

    Yom Kippur is often translated into English as the Jewish day of atonement, though I feel that this is a mistranslation. Yom Kippur’s awesomeness, in the literal sense of the word, is that the Jewish tradition provides us with a 25-hour period, Shabbat Shabbaton (the sabbath of sabbaths) to focus…

  • Bamidbar 5781

    Bamidbar 5781

    This week, we begin the fourth book of the Torah, Sefer Bamidbar. In Hebrew, bamidbar means wilderness or desert. In English, the title Numbers derives from the multiple censuses taken throughout the book. Bamidbar is a much more apt title for the journey that we will be taking these next…

  • Tazria Metsora 5781

    Tazria Metsora 5781

    Tazria-Metsora 5781 Lauren Tuchman   This week’s parsha, Tazria-Metsora is both incredibly timely and deeply complex. Now that the Kohenim have been ordained, their functions are beginning to be outlined. The Book of Leviticus is arguably the Torah’s most complex and least understood book, given that it is largely concerned…