Tag: Torah

  • The Plurality of Mourning Shabbat Nachamu 5780

    The Plurality of Mourning Shabbat Nachamu 5780

    This piece originally appeared on SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva. Nachamu Nachamu ami, “comfort, comfort my people,”— the opening words of the Haftorah from the book of Isaiah, which we will read this Shabbat, ring particularly poignant this year. What does it mean for us to move from a period of…

  • A Reflection For The Three Weeks 5780

    A Reflection For The Three Weeks 5780

    With every passing year, the enduring wisdom and beauty of the Jewish calendar never ceases to surprise me and give me newfound insight. I’ve been thinking these past few weeks about the upcoming period of The Three Weeks, a period of collective mourning for the Jewish people which begins on…

  • Grief, Mourning and Rage: A Spiritual Response and Call To Action for White Folks

    Grief, Mourning and Rage: A Spiritual Response and Call To Action for White Folks

    In this audio teaching, I offer a response for this moment. Grief, Mourning and Rage: A Spiritual Response For This Moment

  • Bamidbar 5780

    Bamidbar 5780

    Parashat Bamidbar, which Jews the world over just completed, is chiefly concerned with an extensive census of military-aged men and a meticulous description of the manners by which each tribe camped and traveled. The parsha opens the fourth book of the Torah, known in English as Numbers owing to the…

  • Behar 5780

    Behar 5780

    This week marks the tenth Shabbat since I have been in shul, davening with a minyan. Each Shabbat morning as I arise, put on my tallit and prepare to pray the morning or Shacharit service, I cannot but feel the absence of friends, the silence without melodious harmonization, and the…

  • A Teaching On Parashat Emor and Pesach Sheni

    A Teaching On Parashat Emor and Pesach Sheni

    A Teaching On Parashat Emor and Pesach Sheni

  • Baalotecha 5779

    Our parsha this week is Behaalotecha, the third parsha in the Book of Numbers. We are introduced this week to the second Passover or Pesach Sheni which falls on the 14th of Iyyar, exactly one month after Passover. Pesach Sheni allowed those who were unable to offer the Passover sacrifice…

  • Behar 5779

    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 as well. The number seven holds great…

  • Emor 5777

    Author’s note: This commentary was written in May, 2017, in the Jewish year 5777 and was significantly updated in 5779. The LORD spoke further to Moses: Speak to Aaron and say: No man of your offspring throughout the ages who has a defect shall be qualified to offer the food…