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Welcome! Check out Rabbi Lizz's divrei Torah and other community updates here.

Shabbat Shalom! Tonight, we count day thirty-four of the omer, and honor a foundation of glory, Yesod she’beHod. Rabbi Jill Hammer’s Omer Calendar of Biblical women attributes this day and this point of the kabbalistic spiral of these days to Avigayil, one of David’s wives. In the book of Samuel, David is on the run from King Saul and encounters some difficulties with a landowner on whose land he is squatting....Read more...

          “You shall be holy, for I – the Lord Your God – am holy.” Three times this phrase is repeated in the second part of this week’s double Torah portion, Parashat Kedoshim. What does it mean to be holy because or in the way that God is holy? This Shabbat, immediately following Earth day, we find ourselves in the kabbalistic time of Splendor within...Read more...

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          Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Tzav, in which more details of the various sacrifices introduced last week are described. There are a few choice lines and possible interpretations of this parasha, but this week the word “tzav” itself is really catching me. It is the same root as the word mitzvah, but in the imperative. There is...Read more...

          Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Terumah, consists of God describing to Moses how the Tabernacle, the moveable Sanctuary for the Israelites to commune with God while wandering in the desert, ought to be built. It also opens us up to one of my favorite eternal questions of scripture: WHAT THE HECK IS A TACHASH?! Several times throughout the Torah...Read more...

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          This year I have been randomly assigned a collection of parshiyot to write divrei Torah for my rabbinical school’s listserve. On the weeks that they are to be published, the first draft is due on Monday so that there is time for edits, and the final draft is due on Wednesday.

          This week in particular it felt near impossible to try to plan ahead remarks for Shabbat, when our country and democratic institutions seemed to be on unstable ground. Thankfully, Wednesday came and went with a relatively normal inauguration and the most social media worthy thing to come out of it seems to be the image of Bernie Sanders looking cold and disgruntled. But throughout the last two weeks, as the National Guard gathered in abundance just a few miles away from us, there truly was still a distinct possibility for further violence and attempts to overthrow democracy, a reprise of the events of January 6th. Of course, it was precisely because of the National Guard and our readiness for the worst that likely deterred any further action from extremists, so I implore you not to write off the concerns as hyperbolic or hysterical just because they did not come to pass. That sort of dismissal has allowed for escalating violence throughout history, and we must be open to learning from recent events. Read more...

          Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Miketz, telling the story of the initial reunion between Joseph and his brothers, though the brothers do not recognize Joseph. We discussed during Torah study yesterday how Joseph tests his brothers, to see how they’ve changed and to decide whether to reveal himself to them. There seems to be some element...Read more...

In this week’s Torah Portion, Jacob wrestles with “a man”. There is a noticeable lack of details in the scene. Is this man some random assailant? An angel? A dream? Jacob’s inner turmoil? Some combination of the above?

These answers may be unknowable or only knowable through our own lens of understanding – whether we are struggling with our own psyche, whether we...Read more...

          Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Toldot, in which we read about the birth of and struggle between the twin sons of Isaac and Rebecca: Jacob and Esau. There’s a lot going on in this parasha, a lot of ways to read the dynamics between the brothers and between each of them and their respective parents, and many midrashim, modern and...Read more...

Nachas-A Yiddish word meaning that you are happy and proud, especially of the accomplishments of your childrenRead more...

          Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Lech Lecha. Tomorrow, we will hear our Bar Mitzah chant from the Torah the parasha from his birthday weekend, Parashat Pinchas, but the rescheduled date for his ceremony and celebration also suits this momentous occasion.

          In Lech Lecha, God tells Abram to “Go forth, from the land of your birth to a new land that I will show you.” And Abram does. He takes his wife and nephew and some friends and workers and they leave Mesopotamia to settle in the Holy Land and start a new life, a new world built with a vision of monotheism and Divine Justice.   At thirteen, Preston certainly isn’t being kicked out of his parents’ house to a new land, especially not during a pandemic with quarantine suggestions, but he is being asked now to embrace the covenant set forth in this parasha. As they become “Children on the Commandment” (what “Bar Mitzvah” really means), we ask our young people to take up the cause for justice and living in the image of God, continuing the legacy of our father Abraham. Read more...

            Shabbat Shalom! This week we read Parashat Bereshit in its entirety. After weeks of holidays, and getting the teaser at Simchat Torah last Shabbat, now we are fully read to start reading the Torah anew, beginning with creation.

            Creation doesn’t...Read more...