Tag: Torah sparks by Rabbi Schell
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Approaching the High Holy Days: The one key, you like to start with.
Do you have also a bunch of unmarked keys at home which you know that the each key must fit somewhere? Perhaps to an old box or door, perhaps to a lock, to your car, a gate, a diary, a neighbour’s house, or to a cupboard. You haven’t had the time to check every key…
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Mitzvah School—Igniting the potential in everyone
Our Parasha for this week directs our attention on building a just society with a strong and independent judicial structure. While last week’s parasha called us to have mercy and compassion for those of our society who are less fortunate, this week’s message is that mercy misapplied can be just as tyrannical as overzealous justice.…
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My Chanicha Patrizia
Our Parashat Matot Masei, which brings the Children of Israel to the plains of Moab on the border of the Land of Israel, deals with the nexus between two of the founding stories of Judaism. The story of peoplehood frames the Jewish People as a family and a tribe bound together by a shared history…
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One Kotel for One People
The crisis that erupted last week over matters of conversion and equal access to the Western Wall has yet to be resolved. At the conclusion of last week‘s shabbat, several 100 friends, supporters and members of the Progressive movements in Israel gathered in front of the residence of PM Netanyahu in Jerusalem, showing their disapointment with…
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Is Korach All Bad?
Only five Torah portions derive their titles from the names of individuals. These five portions are Koach, Yitro, Korach, Balak, and Pinchas. Three of them are in Numbers, a book that heightens the trials of the Israelites with micro-narratives in the midst of the great historical trek toward mature freedom and the continued attachment of…
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A healing prayer for when a loved one is suffering
In last week’s Torah portion Miriam and Aaron talk about the “Cushite woman” whom Moses has married. In addition, they complain that God speaks not only through Moses but also through them. As a result, Miriam is struck with tzara’at, often translated as leprosy. In an interesting twist of the story, Moses shows a deep…
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To be a Zionist is to wrestle with, but not to give up on Israel.
This week we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the “6 Day War“ in 1967. As a Progressive Jew and Zionist, I have mixed feeling about this anniversary. Not because of what happened in 1967, I think what happened was necessary and important for the Jewish state, but since then, I feel as though the Jewish…
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Behar – Bechukotai: Walking upright and unafraid
In our parashah, God vows to enact a series of blessings and curses for the Israelites—blessings if they observe the commandments, and curses if they do not. In her interpretation, Rabbi Lisa Exler explains that the blessings are “curiously framed” by the image of walking.Walking is, for many of us, our most basic vehicle for…
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Parashat Emor: Making the Holy One, holy.
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 can we give to God? That doesn’t mean we don’t have a whole section on…
