Tag Torah sparks by Rabbi Schell

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…

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…

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…

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…