Parashat Bereshit Genesis 1:1-6:8 This is a season of beginnings. Not only did we just complete the High Holy Days—marking the start of the new Jewish year—but as we finish the festival of Sukkot—marking the fall harvest and the biblical account of God’s care for our ancient forebears in the wilderness—we also begin the annual cycle of Torah readings on Simhat Torah. Because the fall Jewish holiday season is so full, it can be difficult to maintain one’s spiritual focus... Read more
By Rafi Ellenson Sukkot For many years, I could hardly stand to enter a synagogue on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Overwhelmed by the intensity of the High Holidays, its liturgy demanding that I declare myself of little merit, and its incredible emphasis on mortality; I spent several rounds of the yamim nora’im in solitude, contemplation, and protest. Only outside the bounds of prayer and community would I consider the year that was, and anticipate the year to come. This... Read more
By Rabbi Jessica Spencer ’24 Yom Kippur The Talmud tells a story of a rabbi who wanted to repent, to make teshuvah. Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya hears that he has sinned so badly that his teshuvah will never be accepted. He asks the mountains and hills to seek mercy for him, but they reply that they are too busy praying for mercy for themselves. Then he asks Heaven and Earth, but they too will only pray for themselves. He asks... Read more
By Naomi Gurt Lind, Hebrew College Rabbinical Student Parashat Ha’azinu Deuteronomy 32:1-32:52 The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another, his mother called him WILD THING! And Max said, I’LL EAT YOU UP! So he was sent to bed, without eating anything. For decades, Maurice Sendak’s perfect book, Where the Wild Things Are successfully disguised itself to me as a children’s book. Lately I have come to realize it is a work with... Read more
Parashat Nitzavim-Vayelech Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30 It is the season of rabbinic writer’s block. Each year, those of us who give sermons for the High Holidays jump on to Whatsapp groups and listservs, commiserating about the pressure and challenge of speaking our truth during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services. This year, the task feels harder than ever. As we speak to a community rocked by the events of October 7th, the ongoing devastation in Gaza, rapidly spreading violence throughout the Levant,... Read more
Parashat Ki Tavo Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8 Parashat Ki Tavo outlines more of Moses’ instructions to the people on how to build a just and lasting society in the Promised Land. It begins with a commandment to take all the first fruits the people will harvest in The Land, put them in a basket, and take them to the priests as offerings. When they make the offering, they are directed to recite a passage (which we still recite thousands of years later... Read more
By Rav Rachel Adelman, Hebrew College Faculty Haftarat Ki Tetzei Isaiah 54:1-10 The recent events in Israel-Palestine have thrust me back to the day after October 7th—and liturgically back to Tisha be-‘Av, the most mournful day of the Jewish year. I dedicate this teaching to the memory of the six hostages killed in Gaza last week: Ori Danino z”l (age 25) Carmel Gat z”l (age 40) Hersh Goldberg-Polin z”l (age 23) Alex Lobanov z”l (age 32) Almog Sarusi z”l (age... Read more
By Naomi Gurt Lind Parashat Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9) When I signed up to write a 70 Faces essay for Parashat Shoftim, I thought maybe I’d do something with the theme of justice. After all, the parashah has this famous phrase: צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִּרְדֹּף לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה וְיָרַשְׁתָּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־יי Justice, justice you shall pursue, in order to live and to inherit the land, which Adonai your God has given to you. (Deuteronomy 16:20) Or perhaps I could do something about seeking guidance when... Read more
By Julia Spiegel, Hebrew College Rabbinical Student Parashat Re’eh Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17 Two weeks ago, I bought lychees and cucumbers from my local makolet (grocer) in Jerusalem. It was Erev Shabbat, and the feeling was tense. “Ma yihye?” The man behind the counter asked. “What’s going to happen?” He spoke the question we were all asking; the question I felt hanging in the air in my quieter-than-usual walks in the days prior. I wished I had an answer. Instead I said,... Read more
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Asking More of Noah
By Rabbi Frankie Sandmel ’22 Parashat Noach Genesis 6:9-11:32 In 5785, a story about a world so full of evil that God sees no other path beyond total destruction is hard to handle. As our own world feels on the precipice of chaos, it is painful to imagine reaching a point where, as in the time of Noah, even HaShem gives up. In the story of Noah, the only source of hope that God found in humanity was our title... Read more