Proudly Jewish - Proudly Progressive
Proudly Jewish - Proudly Progressive
The point of being Jewish is to have a relationship with God. Yet, a relationship implies a certain give and take, and there is little in the Torah that talks about what we have that God could possibly need. What…
The holiness code detailed in Leviticus 19 opens with the command: “You shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy.” The chapter then goes on to describe in exquisite detail the means to achieving holiness. Surprisingly these…
While Rabbis often dread having to preach about our Torah portion (who likes to speak about skin eruption called tzaraat), it is a very suggestive one, and presents, an image of the holiness of the Israelite people. Tzaraat is a…
When someone we love passes away, we experience deep sorrow and grief. We miss that person’s presence and caring. We miss the support and all that we shared. Jewish mourning rituals and customs are meant to help us cope, to…
This coming Shabbat, we have a dramatic haftarah reading from Ezekiel 37:1-14. The prophet shares the vision of dry bones coming to life. What does this vision have to do with Passover, our festival of freedom, our deliverance from slavery?…
The most well-known thing that Jewish people do during Passover is to gather together for a ceremonial festive meal called a seder. The main thing to understand about a seder is that it combines a delicious meal, the telling of…
At the conclusion of our parashah, Moshe descends from Mount Sinai with a new set of hewn tablets in hand. The Torah narrates, “Moses was not aware that the skin of his face was radiant [karan or], since he had…
In Hamlet, the character Polonius proclaims, “Apparel oft proclaims the man” – the only thing to add is that apparel no less proclaims the woman. Indeed, our clothing says a lot about all of us. At times, we wear clothes…
At the beginning of our parashah we read the following request from God to Moses: “Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts (t’rumah); you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart is so moved. V’asu li…
Last week’s parashah contained a magnificent description of the revelation at Mount Sinai. God revealed Godself and gave the Decalogue. The “Ten Commandments” represent the first laws of the mutual covenant between God and Israel, and this week’s parashah contains…