Proudly Jewish - Proudly Progressive
Proudly Jewish - Proudly Progressive
The story of the Akeidah, the “Binding” of Isaac, is certainly one of the most terrifying and troubling accounts in all of the Torah. The Rabbis since the dawn of Rabbinical discussion have been arguing its merits and problems. How…
Names carry with them all sorts of associations: memories, hopes, dreams, and possibilities. The names we are given and those that we choose, tell the world something about ourselves: they may announce our ethnic origin or possibly something about our…
Words can hurt us because they contain enormous power. For the same reason, they can also inspire, uplift, and enlighten us. They can even create something out of nothing. We see this idea illustrated strikingly in the opening chapters of…
Yom Kippur isn’t an easy day. Not because of the fasting. What isn’t easy is the affliction of the soul, the practice of going deeply into ourselves and revealing our innermost fears, doubts and insecurities in front of the Eternal.…
Message from the Rabbi This Shabbat is a time of endings and new beginnings: It is the last Shabbat of 5776, Jessica’s Bat Mitzvah, and the Torah cycle is nearly finished. We are bidding farewell to the past, and moving forward…
Only 10 more days until we celebrate the beginning of the New Jewish Year 5777. As mentioned in previous weeks, during this ‘season’ of the year, all of us are engaged in a kind of soul search; investigating whether we…
Our parasha ends with the commandment to remember. We are asked to remember what Amalek did to us. Amalek is in Jewish tradition the sworn enemy who attacked the Israelites in their weakest moment, right after the liberation from slavery,…
We stand only three weeks away from the Jewish New Year, thoughts of Teshuva beginning to confront us: What should I concentrate on this year? How am I to face God on Rosh Hashanah? Has this been a positive year?…
The Haftarah readings on Shabbat between Tisha B’Av and Rosh Hashana are referred to as the 7 haftarot of comfort. But, comfort is often hard to come by. This week’s haftarah begins with the statement that Zion, despite being comforted,…
Our Torah Portion for this week, Parashat Va’et-chanan, is for sure the most cited section of the Torah in Jewish tradition, as it contains the Sh’ma Israel, the fundamental declaration of our Jewish faith: the unity of God; and our…