Tag: Torah sparks by Rabbi Schell
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Parashat Lech Lecha: What’s in a name?
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 social class for instance. The dreams that our parents cherished on our behalf may be…
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Parashat Bereshit: the creative power of words
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 Torah. How does God create the universe? Through words. “God said, ‘Let there be light’—and…
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Yom Kippur is a day full of hope and joy
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. There is no more bargaining time left. No more time to negotiate with God, to…
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Shanah Tovah
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 into something new. Like the ancient Israelites we are poised to enter what is metaphorically a…
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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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Rosh Chodesh Elul: Not fear, but love!
This coming Shabbat is also the beginning of a new Month. It is the last month of the Jewish year, the last one before the High Holy Days.According to tradition, the month of Elul is the time that Moses spent on Mount Sinai preparing the second set of tablets after the incident of the golden…
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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…
