How Moses Comes to Terms with Mortality

Last updated on: October 2, 2019 at 8:19 am By Hebrew College

Parashat Vayelech (Deuteronomy 31:1-30) In my work as a geriatric chaplain in a Jewish setting, I have found that the story of Moses’s death — and God’s decision to deny him the satisfaction of entering the Promised Land — often resonates with people who are themselves struggling with the reality of their own mortality. One man in particular, a regular attendee of religious services who died recently, would begin raising questions about God’s justice whenever the topic of Moses’s death... Read more

Teshuvah: Wisdom from Teachers and Children

Last updated on: September 26, 2019 at 11:07 am By Hebrew College

On Father’s Day 2015, I traveled with my children to New Haven, Connecticut to celebrate with my father-in-law. On our way home to Boston, we stopped in Hartford because my teacher, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (of blessed memory) had fallen gravely ill while teaching at a nearby retreat center. Knowing that my kids might not have many more opportunities to engage with Reb Zalman (as he is affectionately known), I asked them to think in advance about a question they might... Read more

Telling Our Stories, Living Our Stories

Last updated on: September 18, 2019 at 4:28 pm By Hebrew College

By Frankie Sandmel Parashat Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8) My fourth grade teacher was a Holocaust survivor. I don’t remember much about her beyond how kindly she welcomed me as a new kid into the school and that we built dioramas of Janush Korczak’s story out of model magic. Janush Korzak ran an orphanage for Jewish children in Poland in the 1930s and, when the Nazis came to bring the children to the concentration camps, he went with them to support... Read more

No Double Standards: Parashat Ki Tetzei

Last updated on: September 12, 2019 at 12:26 pm By Hebrew College

(Deuteronomy 21.10-25.19) By Rabbi Nehemia Polen Toward the end of this week’s parsha, the Torah tells us that you should not have in your pouch diverse weights: a great and a small. You should not have in your house diverse measures of volume: a great and a small. You should have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and a just measure of volume, in order that your days be lengthened on the ground that the Lord your God gives... Read more

Return Again

Last updated on: September 12, 2019 at 12:20 pm By Hebrew College

(Parashat Shoftim, Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9) By Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer Three years ago, I returned from 2 years in Jerusalem, and stayed with my parents in DC, while preparing to lead High Holiday services at 6th & I. I think it was after I stepped off the plane, but before I placed my suitcase on the floor of my parents’ home, my mom handed me an ultimatum: you. You know the boxes in the attic. The ones where chaos lurks beneath... Read more

Go for the blessing every time!

Last updated on: August 26, 2019 at 2:20 pm By Hebrew College

By Rabbi Minna Bromberg Parshat Re’eh (Deuteronomy 11:26 – 16:17) There is a wildlife refuge near my parents’ home on Long Island that has a population of chickadees that are not so wild anymore. That is, they are tame enough that if you fill your hand with birdseed and stand very still they will flit over and pick the food (sunflower seeds are favored) right out of your palm. Once when we were children, a number of decades ago, we... Read more

Holding The Shattered Tablets

Last updated on: August 19, 2019 at 4:09 pm By Hebrew College

By Rabbi Ebn Leader Parashat Ekev (Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25) In this week’s parsha Moshe recounts the story of the ten commandments. But he does not tell only of God’s dramatic revelation on Mt. Sinai accompanied by lightning and thunder, and the extravagant betrayal which followed, dancing around the Golden Calf. He also tells of the slow process of re-establishing the relationship between God and the people following the betrayal, and of the humble and much quieter offering of the same commandments... Read more

We Rise and We Crash: Prayer and Resistance

Last updated on: August 15, 2019 at 1:20 pm By Hebrew College

By Rabbi Becky SIlverstein Parashat Va-etchanen (Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11) “There’s an active mass shooting, we are fine.” My friend Jordyn and her spouse, Justin, live in El Paso. This text began a series of images from El Paso. Jordyn and Justin are photo-journalists, and so our text thread is often filled with images of detention camps on our border, of artwork made by children in Tornillo, of families waiting in Ciudad Juarez, of clergy demonstrating, and so on. These images are... Read more

Small Acts of Kindness

Last updated on: August 8, 2019 at 8:29 am By Hebrew College

Tisha b’Av By Rabbi Or N. Rose On a warm and clear evening late last month, my son and I decided, last-minute, to go a Red Sox game. And so, we quickly bought two inexpensive tickets online and headed to Fenway Park! Arriving a few minutes after the opening pitch, we wound our way through the crowded stadium and found our seats midway between first base and the outfield. Soon after, another father-son duo made their way down the row... Read more

Wandering Jews: Thoughts on Parashat Masa’ey

Last updated on: July 30, 2019 at 8:22 am By Hebrew College

By Rabbi Arthur Green Parashat Masa’ey (Numbers 33:1-36:13) If there is a new Kabbalah to be revealed for our age, I have long suspected that its biblical basis will be these seemingly obscure concluding chapters of the Book of Numbers, which open this way: These are the journeys of the children of Israel who went forth from Egypt in their multitudes, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Moses wrote their goings forth to journey by the mouth of God;... Read more