Category: Torah
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Parashat Ki Tavo: I forgive you as you forgive me
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 have sinned or not in the past year and how we can repair our relationship…
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Parashat Ki Teitzei: Remember Amalek!
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, before Israel had a chance to form an Army or anything comparable. Only God’s protection…
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Parashat Shoftim: How am I to face God on Rosh Hashanah?
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?Here is a little help from the Maggid of Koshnitz. He adapts in the classic style…
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Parashat Eikev: The impact of words after acts of terror
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, still says “God has abandoned me”; which I understand to mean that even though the…
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Parashat Va’et-chanan: Impress them upon your children
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 parasha includes the Decalogue, the ten commandments, what underlines its special place in our tradition.The…
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Parashat Devarim: Perhaps Moses forgot?
During my vacation in Berlin I was having a conversation with a friend where we were reminiscing about some events from our past. While we, broadly speaking, remembered the event in the same way, there were certain elements and details which we both remembered differently. Possibly because of perspective, possibly because I don’t have the…
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Parashat Mas’ei: Finding our goal(s) in life
In Parashat Mas’ei, we read a review of the Israelite’s journeys through their forty years in the desert. It is important to understand that the journey was not orchestrated by the human mind, but was designed by God. The point of the journey was not fun or entertainment, but to find a way home. Throughout…
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Make your voice count!
How many times have we meant to call our legislator, wanted to sign that petition but let it fall to the bottom of our e-mail inbox, planned to sign up for a shift at the soup kitchen or intended to bring extra food to the Kehillah’s food collection box?We have the best of intentions, but…
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Parashat Pinchas: Leading to better communication and understanding
Parashat Balak (last week’s reading) has quite a disturbing end. The short chapter reads like a report that predicts the end of “Project Exodus”. The situation in the camp is chaotic, all boundaries are fallen and no one cares anymore about God and the values taught by Moses. What happened? After the episode with Balaam,…
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Chukkat: A wonderful role model
Reading Parashat Chukkat, we engage ourselves quite often in the discussion of Moses’ big mistake which resulted in God’s severe punishment. Why is he prohibited to enter the promised land, why can’t he enjoy the fruits of his hard work? It must have been something dramatic. So we engage ourselves in looking for the negative…
