Parashat Eikev (Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25) By Rabbi Daniel Klein | Aug 7, 2020 The central drama of much of the Torah is the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt and forming a new way of life according to God. This week’s parashah, Eikev, highlights a question that has been a persistent fear throughout this saga: can we ever really leave Egypt? In an evocative passage in this week’s parashah, the Torah describes Egypt as a place where “you plant your seeds, and water them by your... Read more
Parashat Vaetchanan (Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11) By Yael Werber | July 30, 2020 This week’s parashah begins with the word, “va-etchanan,” meaning, “I pleaded,” and Moses’s plea to be allowed to enter the land of Israel. When Moses recounts that the answer is “no,” that instead it will be Joshua who will lead the Israelites forward, and that Moses’s job to instruct him, we can practically hear Moshe’s inner despair. This is the changing of the guard in real time; the heartbreaking realization that... Read more
Parashat Devarim (Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22) and Tisha B’Av By Rabbi Jim Morgan | July 25, 2020 Alas, she has become a harlot, The faithful city that was filled with justice, Where righteousness dwelt—but now murderers. (Isaiah 1:21; JPS) Every year, we read Parashat D’varim as we approach Tisha B’Av, the saddest day of our liturgical calendar and the one on which we are reminded that our Temple—the symbol of our unity and our access to God’s presence—was destroyed on account of our baseless hatred for... Read more
Parashat Matot-Masei (Numbers 30:2–36:13) By Rabbi Becky Silverstein | July 18, 2020 If you have driven through or near South Dakota, you have probably seen the billboards for Wall Drug: “Free ice water! Five-cent Coffee!” Wall, South Dakota, was established as a railroad station for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, a link on the chain of railroad connecting the country, a system that my spouse Naomi’s family helped build. Founded in 1931, Wall Drug originally used the promise of free ice water as a... Read more
Parashat Pinchas (Numbers 25:10 – 30:1) By Cantor Ken Richmond July 11, 2020 About six weeks ago, finally facing the reality that our son Zalmen’s bar mitzvah – scheduled for Labor Day weekend – would not be able to take place as we had imagined, we decided to move it up to his Hebrew birthday. He was born on the 17th of Tammuz, a fast day in the Jewish calendar that commemorates lamentable events in Jewish history, including the smashing of... Read more
Parashat Chukat (Numbers 19:1-22:1) By Rabbi Adina Allen Jun 29, 2020 We encounter the Israelites in the midst of their 40 years of wandering in the desert, in a moment of intense difficulty. They are tired. They’re scared. They rail against Moses and Aaron, demanding, yet again, what they remember as the comforts of Egypt, “Why have you taken us out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place; it is not a place for seeds, or for fig trees,... Read more
Parashat Korach (Numbers 16:1-18:32) By Rabbi Daniel Klein The Book of Ecclesiastes says, “A twisted thing that cannot be made straight, A lack that cannot be made good” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). If we were looking for people who exemplify this teaching, surely the Israelites in the wilderness would be good candidates. Yet again in this week’s parasha, Korach, we see confirmation of them as a “stiff necked people” (Exodus 32:9), the appellation God gives them after their stunning apostasy in making... Read more
Parashat Shelach (Numbers 13:1-15:41) By Rabbi Michael Rosenberg There are crucial moments in every story, turning points at which the direction of the narrative shifts in irrevocable ways, determining how the tale must end. Such is the moment in which we found ourselves in this week’s Torah reading, Parshat Shelah. God tells Moses to send a reconnaissance mission to scout out the Land of Israel. When they return, these advance troops report on the land’s beauty, but they also tell of... Read more
By Rabbi Or Rose and Rev. Paul Roseraushenbush “Listen to my words, YHWH, consider my lament. Hear my cry for help…” (Psalm 5:1-2) We are living in a time of widespread illness, ongoing racism, and deep fear and division. People throughout the world are crying out, raising their voices in protest and lament, seeking hope and solace. Our voices echo those over the millennia who have called out in every generation, turning to their spiritual traditions for guidance and inspiration.... Read more
Parashat Beha’alotecha (Numbers 8:1-12:16) By Rabbi Brian Besser Edmund Fleg captures the central notion of tikkun olam (“repair of the world”) that drives social change with this declaration: “I am a Jew, because for Israel, the world is not yet completed; we are completing it.” According to Midrash, Torah is the blueprint of all creation. If God left the work of creation incomplete, does that imply that its underlying Torah, as well, is incomplete? The question is more than academic.... Read more
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