Beautiful & Broken: Abram’s Vision

Last updated on: October 5, 2021 at 12:17 pm By Hebrew College

Parashat Noah (Genesis 6:9–11:32) By Rabbi Or Rose | October 05, 2021 This week’s Torah portion includes two great dramas: the Flood story (chapters 6-9) and the tale of the Tower of Babel (chapter 11). In the closing lines of the reading, we are briefly introduced to the great patriarch Abraham (still known as Abram at this point). This introduction, however, is terse and understated, especially considering the drama of the two earlier narratives. We learn nothing about Abram’s character... Read more

Difficult Beginnings

Last updated on: September 30, 2021 at 3:30 pm By Hebrew College

Parashat Bereshit, Genesis 1:1–6:8 By Dr. Susie Tanchel | September 27, 2021 “All beginnings are hard,” commented Rashi, a medieval Jewish commentator, on a verse in the Torah. Yet, this week, as we begin a new liturgical cycle of the Torah with the reading of Bereishit 1, this does not immediately appear to be the case. After all, God quite easily creates the world from the pre-existing unformed matter (1:2). Indeed, all God needs to do is speak, and... Read more

A Sukkot Story for the Pandemic Generations

Last updated on: September 20, 2021 at 10:42 am By Hebrew College

Shabbat Sukkot (Exodus 33:12-34:26; Numbers 29:17-34) By Rabbi Shira Shazeer | September 20, 2021 Mazel tov! We’ve made it through a second pandemic High Holy Days and reached Sukkot, the season of our joy. Most Jewish holidays have a core story. Passover is zman cheiruteinu, the time of our liberation. Shavuot is zman matan torateinu, the time we were given the Torah. Hanukkah and Purim each have a story. Even Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have the narratives of the birthday of the world,... Read more

Remembrance and Teshuvah

Last updated on: September 17, 2021 at 10:34 am By Hebrew College

Haazinu (Deuteronomy 32:1–52) By Jessica Spencer | Sepember 15, 2021 Haazinu is a swansong, a poem declaimed by Moses before he dies and leaves the Israelites to face their future. At this time of year, a time of both reflection and new beginnings, it calls us to remember our past and to take these words to heart for the new year. Maimonides draws attention in particular to the last line of the first aliyah: זְכֹר֙ יְמ֣וֹת עוֹלָ֔ם בִּ֖ינוּ שְׁנ֣וֹת דֹּר־וָדֹ֑ר... Read more

Words of Love and Truth

Last updated on: September 8, 2021 at 9:23 pm By Hebrew College

Parashat VaYelech (Deuteronomy 31:1-31:30) By Rabbi Ebn Leader | September 8, 2021 As the Torah winds up its narrative towards the death of Moshe, it offers a few final examples of his leadership. These include his teaching of the song of Ha’azinu in next week’s parasha (Devarim 32:1-43), and his blessings to the tribes in the final parasha. Yet this week’s reading introduces the song with a very dark moment. In Devarim 31:16, God says to Moshe: After you die... Read more

Choosing Transformation—Over and Over Again

Last updated on: August 31, 2021 at 3:36 pm By Hebrew College

Parashat Nitzavim (Deuteronomy 29:9–30:20) By Rabbi Becky Silverstein | August 31, 2021 This summer, my family and I spent four nights at my mom and step dad’s house in Vermont. For two of the nights we were there, our group consisted of 11 adults and 4 children, ranging in age from 14 months to 7 years old. I spent a lot of time thinking about food. What will we feed our toddler for lunch? Do we have enough bananas? (We never... Read more

Our Evolving Relationship To Prayer

Last updated on: August 23, 2021 at 1:37 pm By Hebrew College

Ki Tavo (Exodus 26:1-29:8) By Rabbi Brian Besser | August 23, 2021 During upcoming High Holiday services, we will shortly confront one of the most theologically disturbing prayers in all Jewish liturgy, the Unetaneh Tokef, which begins: “On Rosh Hashanah it is written and on Yom Kippur it is decreed . . . who shall live and who shall die . . . . ” One year, a congregant, Jen Richler, came to me to discuss the spiritual disaffection that the... Read more

Returning to Our Neighbors—To See or Not to See?

Last updated on: August 17, 2021 at 5:28 pm By Hebrew College

Parshat Ki Teitzei (Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19) By Rabbi Shira Shazeer | August 17, 2021 It is the month of Elul. In just a few weeks we’ll reach the High Holy Days, our yearly attempt to start fresh, to get things right. As I write these words though, I am keenly aware, and I imagine you are too, of the baggage that we, as a global society, will be bringing with us into the new year. Each Yom Kippur, we repeat the vidui, the liturgical, alphabetical list... Read more

Elul, T’shuvah, and Shame: The Eglah Arufah

Last updated on: August 12, 2021 at 10:32 am By Hebrew College

Parashat Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9) By Rafi Ellenson | August 9, 2021 Now that Elul has begun, I am once again undertaking the process of chesbon ha’nefesh—accounting of the soul. Reflecting on the year that was, I meditate on moments I fell short and times when I could have been better to my loved ones, as well as to the greater community around me. Frankly, it is hard not to wince when thinking of particularly embarrassing or shameful incidents. And while, fortunately, these instances... Read more

Blessing, Curse, and the Freedom to Choose

Last updated on: August 5, 2021 at 11:06 am By Hebrew College

Parshat Re’eh (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17) By Rabbi Shira Shazeer | August 5, 2021 The following was originally posted on August 7, 2018. Rereading this Dvar Torah, three years later, it strikes me how innumerable individual choices still make the difference between whether our lives as a community are like heaven or hell on earth, just as surely as they did when I shared this story last, as they did when I heard the story years before, and as they did when the... Read more