by Rabbi Daniel Klein, Dean of Students for the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College Parashat Kedoshim Leviticus 19:1-20:27 If you have been reading the Torah portion each week, the arrival of Parashat Kedoshim this week can, at first glance, feel like a bit of a plot twist. For the six previous parashiyot of the Book of Leviticus, we have been located either in the mishkan, the portable tabernacle in the wilderness, or oriented towards it. The content has been primarily... Read more
By Rabbi Jordan Braunig Parashat Acharei Mot Exodus 6:2-9:35 There is a familiarity to the unfolding ritual found in this week’s parashah, Acharei Mot. Much of it, detailing the actions and choreography of the high priest on Yom Kippur is recounted each year on our holiest day. The strangeness of the ritual, the sprinkling of blood, the laying of hands on a goat, the donning of ritual garb, offers an ancient backdrop to our very modern account-taking. When the holiday... Read more
By Sivan Piatigorsky-Roth Parashat Metzora Leviticus 14:1-15:33 In a college creative writing class I had a professor tell me during a workshop that I am “obsessed with space.” Everything I handed in for his class was disproportionately focused on describing the home and other private spaces in great detail. I had not realized I’d been doing it, but once I saw it I couldn’t stop seeing it. In every facet of my life, I realized, I am primarily oriented towards... Read more
By Rabbi Justin David Parashat Tazria Leviticus 12:1-13:59 Early in my years as a rabbinical student, I applied for an internship as a hospital chaplain. It was in a large, high profile hospital, and the rabbi who directed the program had a national reputation. He conducted the interview while taking me on a brisk tour of the hospital’s various wards. As we were walking quickly, the rabbi turned to me and asked, “So, how do you deal with the dark... Read more
By Rabbi Jim Morgan Parashat Sh’mini (Leviticus 9:1-11:47) Vay’hi ba-yom ha’sh’mini—And on the eighth day (Lev. 9:1): the last moment of perfection, the departure from the Eden of the seven days of Creation into the fallen world of human existence. The first day of creation was all light, just the work of recognizing distinctions, the basis for the subsequent five days of building up a perfectly balanced world of life with no death. The week culminates in Shabbat, the seventh... Read more
Parashat Tzav (Leviticus 6:1-8:36) The last book that Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote was a 300+ page Yiddish tome on the theological and philosophical relationship between a renowned pietistic Hasidic master of the early 19th century, Reb Menachem Mendl of Kotsk and the famous Christian theologian and mystic Soren Kierkegaard. A book about two 19th century religious figures may not sound like a page turner, but at the heart of the book is a reflection on passion and joy. Heschel explains that... Read more
Parashat Va’yikra (Leviticus 1:1-5:26) By Rabbi Or N. Rose, Director, Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership, Hebrew College “And he [YHWH] called to Moses from the Tent of Meeting…” As one can see in the image above, the letter Aleph at the end of the word “Va’yikra—And He called,” is smaller than the rest of the letters. This oddity (like other instances of reduced or enlarged letters in the Hebrew Bible) has led to an outpouring of creative commentary... Read more
Parashat Pekudei (Exodus 38:21-40:38) By Risa Dunbar Last May, I moved all of my belongings into a storage unit before leaving town for the year. I researched and secured the appropriate unit, donated unneeded items, and packed my remaining belongings into boxes, each of which I accounted for in a detailed spreadsheet. My thinking was that, upon my return to Boston, I would be able to find what I needed, and quickly feel at home once more. Assessing my belongings was... Read more
By Rabbi Minna Bromberg ’10 Parashat VaYak’hel Exodus 35:1-38:20 “Pencils down,” the exam proctor says firmly. And in that moment, whatever hopes or fears I may have had about what I’ve accomplished in this test evaporate, and I am left with whatever answers I have managed to give in the time available. It has been decades since I sat for any kind of formal timed exam like those etched in my memories and yet I have a similar “Pencils down”... Read more
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Finding Elusive Joy
By Rav Hazzan Ken Richmond, HC ’21 Parashat Emor Leviticus 21:1-24:23 Life as a congregational clergy person is full of rapid ups and downs. The same week or day may bring a bris and a tragic funeral, visiting sick congregants and teaching B-mitzvah students, discussing anti-Semitism and Israel at war, and singing with preschool kids. This reflects the variegated experiences of those in our communities. In addition to the fluctuations of our individual lives and of the Jewish community as... Read more