What My Neighbor Needs

Last updated on: May 8, 2019 at 12:25 pm By Hebrew College

Parashat Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:1-20: 27) By Rabbi Josh Weisman When you live in San Francisco some of your neighbors are likely to be Catholic. From the early Spanish missionaries and settlers to later Mexican and Central American immigrants, from Irish, Italian, Filipino, and Maltese immigrants to their descendants, San Francisco is a Catholic town. This might seem to contradict San Francisco’s more widely known image first as a city of libertines and later as a center for gay movements and... Read more

“After Death, There is Ritual”

Last updated on: April 29, 2019 at 1:42 pm By Hebrew College

Parashat Achrei Mot (Leviticus 16:1-18:30) By Rabbi Avi Killip The Yom Kippur ritual, described in this week’s parsha, stages the ultimate drama. On this one day, the high priest is invited to peek behind the curtain. The danger is real, and the thrill of coming closer than ever to God is almost palpable. You can imagine his heart racing as he draws near. And while most temple rituals are remembered only through the chanting of a Torah service, we make... Read more

The 8th Day of Passover: A Mo’ed For New Leadership

Last updated on: April 23, 2019 at 11:38 am By Hebrew College

By Daniel Brosgol Congratulations, friends, you have journeyed through another Passover, and hopefully feel a greater sense of liberation as the holiday draws to a close on Saturday night. In truth, the last few days of Pesach are a poor man’s parallel to the final hours of Yom Kippur — but you’ve made it this far, so why not go all the way! In fact, consider going to synagogue to listen to one of the more remarkable texts from the... Read more

A New Torah Will Go Forth or, How To Sit With All Of Our Unanswered Questions

Last updated on: April 17, 2019 at 11:28 am By Hebrew College

First Day of Pesach By Rabbi Avi Strausberg How do you shecht a Leviathan? Just like us, the rabbis wrestled with their own pressing questions whose answers could not be found in the Torah. According to Vayikra Rabba, in the World to Come, the righteous would witness a dazzling duel between the mythical creatures the Behemoth and the Leviathan. After this contest of strengths, they’d get to eat the meat of these mythical creatures. But the rabbis wondered, how would these animals,... Read more

Unclench Those Hands

Last updated on: April 8, 2019 at 10:49 am By Hebrew College

Parashat Metzora (Leviticus 14:1-15:33) By Rabbi Gray Myrseth He shall send away the live bird outside the city, into the open field. This is how he shall effect atonement for the house and it will be ritually pure. (Leviticus 14:53) It seems to me there is no escaping from the work of praise. No ground outside its frame, no spare reply or costume of address. Send the live phrase outside the city, out into the open field. Beyond the camp... Read more

Reverence for the Wondrous Life Force

Last updated on: April 3, 2019 at 4:14 pm By Hebrew College

Parashat Tazria (Leviticus 12:1-13:59) By Rabbi Brian Besser The Levitical laws of purity strike the modern ear as arcane at best, and repugnant at worst. What are we to make of the apparently misogynistic passage at the beginning this week’s Torah portion Tazria, declaring “impure” the childbearing mother, or next week’s portion declaring “impure” the menstruating woman for that matter? It would be a singularly sadistic God who fashioned the human being with naturally occurring functions such as parturition and... Read more

Making Space for Mystery

Last updated on: March 28, 2019 at 7:54 pm By Hebrew College

Parshat Shemini (Leviticus 9:1-11:47) Rabbi Adina Allen Aaron’s first role as High Priest is to make the inaugural sacrifice on the newly-completed altar. Moses commands Aaron to offer up—amongst other animals—an egel (calf) to atone for himself and the people. That Moses commands the sacrifice of an egel is curious. Rather than a par (bull), as Leviticus 4:3 dictates for this kind of purification offering, Aaron is told to sacrifice an egel. Nowhere else in Torah is an egel mentioned... Read more

The Paradoxical Freedom of Routine

Last updated on: March 21, 2019 at 2:35 pm By Hebrew College

Parshat Tzav (Leviticus 6:1-8:36) By Rabbi Benjamin Barer Judaism has always concerned itself with proscribing ritual actions that govern our lives, not simply those related to prayer or the rituals of our holy days. In the modern world, this all-encompassing focus can seem oppressive, but paradoxically it can also be freeing. Buried within the seemingly endless descriptions of the sacrifices the Israelites offered in the mishkan, or portable Tabernacle, lies a hint as to why this might be. Parshat Tzavopens by... Read more

A Call to Relationship

Last updated on: March 12, 2019 at 8:13 am By Hebrew College

Parashat Vayikra (Leviticus 1:1-5:26) By Rabbi Suzanne Offit “God called to Moses…” For millennia, commentators have discussed the meaning of this brief statement with which the third book of the Torah opens. For me, it is all about relationships. It is about inviting or being invited into an intimate relationship – the details of which God will spell out throughout the remaining books of the Pentateuch. While I struggle with questions of theology, I am certain of the power of... Read more

To Begin is Human, To Finish is Divine

Last updated on: March 7, 2019 at 11:00 am By Hebrew College

Parashat Pekudei (Exodus 38:21-40:38) By Rabbi Jordan Braunig I’ve always had a much easier time beginning things than finishing them. With a poem, a household project, a painting, a college course, or, even, a dvar Torah, starting is no problem—ending, that’s another story. Beginnings are openings, expanses, vast plains of possibility; a strong start fills you with excitement and yearning. Completions, on the other hand, are boundary lines, points of distinction, painful goodbyes. The appeal of the starting point feels... Read more