By Rabbi Becky Silverstein Sukkot (Leviticus 22:26-23:44) The Fall 2021 issue of Yes! Magazine is the “The How Much is Enough? Issue.” I know this because it says so on the cover. A year after its arrival in the mail, this issue still sits at the top of my pile of unread magazines. The size of the pile ebbs and flows depending on any number of factors. In any case, this issue has stayed untouched longer than others. A few weeks ago, I... Read more
By Rev. Tom Reid Parashat Ha’azinu (Deuteronomy 32:1-52) Why did I choose to write on this particular parashah? As I read it again, I find myself struggling with several passages in this portion. Perhaps struggle is appropriate during the Ten Days of Teshuvah (Return, Remorse, and Renewal), this season of soul-searching (heshbon-nefesh), which calls the Jewish community to grapple with the fullness of life, including its challenges. And as a Presbyterian pastor, taking on Ha’azinu affords me the opportunity to do a mitzvah of sorts, by giving my... Read more
Parashat Vayelech (Deuteronomy 31:1-31:30) Let me set the scene for you. On a well-worn, hand-me-down couch in the basement of a church youth room in Alabama sits a 17-year-old girl, eating donuts amongst lifelong friends (a Sunday ritual), on the precipice of the biggest change of her life thus far: college. Raised in the heart of the Bible Belt, a sheltered but curious “PK” (pastor’s kid), she was certain about her devotion to her faith once she left home; and,... Read more
By Rabbi Or Rose Rosh Hashanah Ever since childhood, I have been fascinated by the ritual of the sounding of the shofar (ram’s horn) during the High Holy Day season, particularly the shofar service on Rosh Hashanah. While I could not articulate this as a boy, I was, and continue to be, intrigued by the use of this ancient, natural, and rather simple instrument in the context of modern, carefully crafted, and complex High Holy Day services. To this... Read more
By Rabbi Shani Rosenbaum Parashat Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8) “What’s in a name?” bemoans Shakespeare’s lovesick Juliet. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” This may be true for a rose, but for people, there is often a whole lot in a name. Ask anyone who has undergone a name change, or been called a name they don’t want: in the context of a human life, names matter. Among other things, what we call each other signifies... Read more
Parashat Ki Teitzei (Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19) By Rabbi Neal Gold Parashat Ki Teitzei falls when the full moon of Elul is fat in the sky and the awareness settles on us that Rosh Hashanah is just around the corner. We are now deeply ensconced in the season of teshuvah and the task of sifting through the details of our lives and our relationships. Among the wide array of Mitzvot found in this parashah are a special set of agricultural laws that... Read more
Parashat Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9) By Emmanuel Cantor This past summer I made my way through The Overstory, a sweeping work of fiction by Richard Powers. A Pulitzer Prize winner in 2019, the novel weaves together nine stories of Americans fighting the deforestation of the California redwoods. One of them, the plant ecologist Dr. Patricia Westerford, writes the following in her book on the power of trees: “Trees know when we’re close by. The chemistry of their roots and the perfumes their leaves... Read more
By Chaim Spaulding Parashat Re’eh (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17) Parashat Re’eh begins with the imperative re’eh (see!), and a choice: the Israelites are presented with bracha u’klala, blessing and curse. Blessing will flow from following God’s commandments; curse will be the consequence for following other gods asher lo y’datem—gods of whom the Israelites have no personal, first-hand knowledge. Over and over in this parashah, woven in among laws on a variety of topics, we are warned not to stray after gods we don’t know. As I encountered these passages,... Read more
By Rabbi Adina Allen Parashat Eikev (Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25) We should each hold two slips of paper in our pockets, a well-known saying in Jewish tradition goes. On one should be written, “The world was created for me,” on the other, “I am but dust and ashes.” Attributed to Reb Simcha Bunem, an 18th century Hasidic rebbe, in its original context this teaching was meant to help us remember, when we feel lowly and depressed, that who we are and what we... Read more
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By Leah Carnow Parashat Bereshit (Genesis 1:1-6:8) “Bet is two / … Bet is second chances / … Bet is two sides (at least!) to every story…” To start the new Torah cycle, fourth-year rabbinical student Leah Carnow’s reflection on Parashat Bereshit (Genesis 1:1-6:8) takes the form of a creatively composed poem around ב (Bet), the second letter in the Hebrew alphabet. “We Begin again / Because we / Believe / We believe / It’s a real good bet.” Read the... Read more