Reflecting Our Merits

Last updated on: July 1, 2025 at 11:49 am By Hebrew College

Parshat Hukat Num 19:1-22:1 In the beginning of the second aliyah of Parshat Hukat, following the laws of the Parah Adumah – the red heifer – we read of the prophet Miriam’s death near the end of Israel’s desert journey. The Torah is characteristically concise: “The whole group of Israelites arrived at the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there. And the group was without water, and... Read more

Reading Korach in Times of Trouble

Last updated on: June 24, 2025 at 10:19 am By Hebrew College

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By Rabbi Jessica Spencer, Hebrew College Rabbinical School `24 If you opened this week’s Torah portion looking for a comfort read, you might be disappointed. The death and destruction in the aftermath of Korach’s rebellion is made even more disquieting by our struggle to understand what was so wrong with the rebellion itself. Commentators over generations have wrestled with the text, pulling apart Korach’s words to find hidden meanings. Especially in times like these, with our hearts in the East,... Read more

Relating to the Collective

Last updated on: June 16, 2025 at 2:09 pm By Hebrew College

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Parahat Sh’lach Numbers 13:1-15:41 When I take a moment to pick my head up out of my inbox and meetings and other work, I am reminded that what enables me to move through these challenging times is relationships. Thankfully, Jewish tradition has much to say about relationships—with individuals, with places, and with ourselves— and the importance of finding ourselves grounded in a community, rather than being alone. It’s this call to connectedness that I have been carrying with me over... Read more

Elevating Sparks in the Desert of Life

Last updated on: June 11, 2025 at 12:02 pm By Hebrew College

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By Risa Dunbar In the summer of 2011, I spent six weeks in Israel on a program called Nesiya. Our group, composed of forty teens, half North American Jews and half Jewish Israelis, began with a three-day backpacking trek in the Negev. Two days after meeting, we were carrying 20-liter jerrycans and hoisting one another up desert craters. Yet what I recall most about those days wasn’t physical strain, but deep encounters of awe with a vast new landscape, strangers... Read more

The World Is “Under-Blessed”: A Call to Spiritual Generosity

Last updated on: June 4, 2025 at 12:18 pm By Hebrew College

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Parashat Nasso Deuteronomy 4:21-7:89 My late teacher, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, of blessed memory, often said, “The world is under-blessed.” In his gentle, playful way, he reminded us that while we are quick to name what is broken or lacking, we are much slower to offer words that sanctify, uplift, and affirm the good that persists—even in the midst of hardship. He believed the world aches not only from violence and injustice, but from spiritual poverty—a drought of blessing. To say... Read more

Coming Closer to the Divine

Last updated on: May 27, 2025 at 4:21 pm By Hebrew College

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Parshat BaMidbar Numbers 1:1-4:20 Parshat BaMidbar ends with detailed instructions of how to properly pack up the Mishkan, our wandering-desert-sanctuary, and its objects. The Kohathites, one of the three Levite clans, are tasked with transporting the Mishkan’s holiest items. We read: זֹ֛את עֲבֹדַ֥ת בְּנֵי־קְהָ֖ת בְּאֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֑ד קֹ֖דֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִֽׁים׃ וּבָ֨א אַהֲרֹ֤ן וּבָנָיו֙ בִּנְסֹ֣עַ הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔ה וְהוֹרִ֕דוּ אֵ֖ת פָּרֹ֣כֶת הַמָּסָ֑ךְ וְכִ֨סּוּ־בָ֔הּ אֵ֖ת אֲרֹ֥ן הָעֵדֻֽת׃ וְנָתְנ֣וּ עָלָ֗יו כְּסוּי֙ ע֣וֹר תַּ֔חַשׁ וּפָרְשׂ֧וּ בֶֽגֶד־כְּלִ֛יל תְּכֵ֖לֶת מִלְמָ֑עְלָה וְשָׂמ֖וּ בַּדָּֽיו׃ This is the responsibility of the Kohathites in... Read more

Wild Hair, Broken Hearts

Last updated on: May 12, 2025 at 4:26 pm By Hebrew College

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By Rabbi Avi Killip, Hebrew College Rabbinical School ’14 Parashat Emor Leviticus 21:1-24:23 The priest must be holy. Parshat Emor tells us how to achieve this, through a myriad of very specific (and sometimes unintuitive) rules and directions. One such rule can be found in Leviticus 21:10: “The priest who is exalted above his fellows, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been ordained to wear the vestments, shall not bare his head or rend... Read more

Counting From and Counting Toward

Last updated on: May 5, 2025 at 2:52 pm By Hebrew College

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By Rav Rachel Adelman ’21 Parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim Leviticus 16:1-18:30; Leviticus 19:1-20:27 These days I live in a double calendar. I am counting the 49 days of the Omer, seven times seven weeks, from the Exodus from Egypt to the moment of Revelation, when we received the Torah at Sinai. As I write, it is the 17th Day—two weeks and three days of the Omer. In my other calendar, I am counting every day from the 7th of October. Today... Read more

Ancient Healthcare, Contemporary Humility

Last updated on: April 30, 2025 at 12:03 pm By Hebrew College

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Parashat Tazria Leviticus 12:1-13:59 Chapter 13 of Leviticus lays out prescriptions for addressing tzara’at (often translated as “leprosy”) within the Israelite community. The priests are assigned responsibility for managing these outbreaks, suggesting an entirely different frame of understanding of human health. The scientific method of understanding biology and human physiology was several millennia away — concepts such as microorganisms, virality, and the immune system did not enter into their thinking. Instead, the chapter’s descriptions of diagnostic and treatment methods read... Read more

Breaking Risk

Last updated on: April 23, 2025 at 1:29 pm By Hebrew College

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Parshat Shemini Lev. 9:1-11:47 Parshat Shemini concludes with God describing to Moshe many of the laws of kashrut (dietary laws), namely, lists of animals which are either permitted or forbidden to eat. Moshe also receives information about procedures for responding to cases in which the corpse of a deceased animal – that is, an animal which was not ritually slaughtered – comes into contact with people or objects, thereby transmitting ritual impurity. Note the difference in how different materials are... Read more