In the Wilderness and the Wilderness Within

Last updated on: May 15, 2018 at 1:54 pm By Hebrew College

Parashat Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20) By Rabbi Jordan Braunig Four books into the Torah and here we find ourselves mired in wilderness. This book, Sefer Bamidbar, though commonly known as the Book of Numbers, would more aptly be translated as In the Wilderness. It tells the story of a people stuck; stuck in existential uncertainty, stuck in mundane nametaking, stuck in adolescent rebellion. Stuck…in the wilderness. A generation of Israelites will perish here. Moses will seal his fate with the slap... Read more

Torah: An Inheritance in this World

Last updated on: May 15, 2018 at 1:54 pm By Hebrew College

Parshat Behar-Behukotai (Leviticus 25:1-27:34) At a recent Keshet LGBTQ and Ally Teen Shabbaton, I asked the participants to consider their relationship with Torah and how it functions in their lives. Students shared their own experiences of encountering Torah, broadly defined, while considering images of Torah as fire, water, wine, honey, oil, and milk. The group coalesced around a broad understanding of Torah as path creator, and diverged on how much Torah defined the path or guided them along theirs. In... Read more

Reembracing Sacred Time

Last updated on: May 15, 2018 at 1:54 pm By Hebrew College

Emor, Leviticus 21-24 By Rabbi Suzanne Offit Back in the late 1900s, when telephones were still commonly fixed to kitchen walls and telephone books were found in nearby cabinets, there was a memorable commercial on TV. I would see it when I watched a program at a set time every week. The ad was for the Yellow Pages, the business section of the phone book. “If it’s out there, it’s in here!” If you needed to find something out in... Read more

Inward and Outward Facing Holiness

Last updated on: April 25, 2018 at 3:09 pm By Hebrew College

Parshat Acharei Mot and Kedoshim (Leviticus 16:1-18:30 and 19:1-20-27) By Rabbi Daniel L. Lehmann Just last week marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the modern State of Israel, and this week’s two Torah readings are often read around the time of Israel’s Independence Day. I would like to think about these two parshiot as a lens through which to view Israel’s sacred mission. The two parshiot that comprise this week’s Torah reading, Acharei Mot and Kedoshim, are often read... Read more

Return and Reintegration: A Rite and a Right

Last updated on: April 19, 2018 at 6:52 am By Hebrew College

Parshat Metzora (Leviticus 14:1-15:33) By Rabbi Avi Killip We start from the assumption that every leper will eventually return to the community. The “יוֹם טָהֳרָתוֹ-day of cleansing” is a given. This is a radical idea. That the Torah instructs us to exile the leper during his ailment can seem harsh and maybe even cruel, but it reflects reality. There are always people on the margins of a society, who for one reason or another have been pushed out of the... Read more

Teaching at the Edge of Mystery

Last updated on: April 11, 2018 at 10:31 am By Hebrew College

Parshat Shemini, Leviticus 9:1-11:47 By Rabbi Gray Myrseth On a Tuesday towards the end of last summer, I sat in a classroom at my shul, across the table from two twelve-year-old boys. It was the first of many lessons we would have together in the course of their Bar Mitzvah studies and we were discussing their Torah portion assignments. One would be chanting from and speaking about Parshat Shlach Lecha, with its themes of perception, doubt, fear, and courage. The... Read more

On Partial Truths

Last updated on: April 4, 2018 at 8:04 am By Hebrew College

Parasha for the Last Day of Pesach By Rabbi Elisha Herb A fire and brimstone Christian preacher once taught me that the cunning of the snake in Eden was his mastery of “half-truths.” He knew he could hook Eve by saying of the fruit of the forbidden tree, “You will not ‘surely die’— – God knows that on the day you eat of its fruit, your eyes will be opened and you will become like one of the Divine Powers,... Read more

Bring More Liberation to Your Seder Table: A Song of Complaints

Last updated on: March 26, 2018 at 5:14 pm By Hebrew College

First Day of Pesach By Rabbi Minna Bromberg The students in my singing and songwriting class—“consumers” at a hospital that offers inpatient services for people with serious mental illness—came into the chapel and began complaining before I could even say hello. One told me that her laryngitis won’t go away and the doctor won’t listen to her. Another said her back was really bothering her. A third said he really didn’t want to be in this class because he didn’t... Read more

Tzav: Offering Our Whole Selves

Last updated on: March 19, 2018 at 9:22 am By Hebrew College

Parashat Tzav (Leviticus 6:1-8:36) By Rabbi Margie Klein Ronkin My first summer on staff with the PICO faith-based national organizing network, I heard an encouraging presentation about a model state federation, call it OSC, and how it was changing the politics of its state. Yet, the following summer, all of the OSC staff were inexplicably missing from the national staff gathering. I later learned from my friend and former OSC staffer, whom I’ll call Emily, that despite their political success, the... Read more

Sacred Fat, Vulnerability, and God’s Choice

Last updated on: March 13, 2018 at 9:53 am By Hebrew College

Parashat Vayikra (Leviticus 1:1-5:26) By Rabbi Micha’el Rosenberg It’s the time of the year when I’ve got fat on my mind. We’ve arrived in the Torah reading cycle to the book of Leviticus, and there are a lot of fleshy, embodied, animal parts going on. We’ve got limbs and meat and blood; it’s a lot—for some too much—to keep track of. But I think that this year, it’s particularly important for us to think about the fat. Because now, it... Read more