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Community Blog

01/10/2020 11:28:41 AM

Jan10

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

Mammals, Moms, and More

05/07/2023 02:31:12 PM

May7

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Emor, in which we receive some more laws relating to the priests’ duties and how they are to conduct themselves throughout their lives. We also receive rules about the holy days - more about how to observe Shabbat, as well as the expectations of the...Read more...

Teal Shabbat

04/28/2023 11:14:07 AM

Apr28

Shabbat Shalom. Today is the 23rd day of the Omer. We are almost exactly halfway through this period from Pesach to Shavuot, from liberation to revelation. This time of year, every year, Jews around the world gather and recount the Exodus from Egypt, freedom from slavery, and survival as a...Read more...

Who by Fire

04/14/2023 06:51:49 PM

Apr14

     Shabbat Shalom. This week’s Torah portion is a grotesquely fitting story for our Yom HaShoa theme. While the first chapter of Parashat Shemini (Leviticus 9) tells of a series of successful sacrifices, the second (Levitucus 10) tells of another sacrifice gone horribly wrong. After Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons are given the instructions for proper sacrifice, they perform each of the required sacrifices...Read more...

Friends Don't Let Friends Have Seders Without Jews

04/08/2023 09:35:07 AM

Apr8

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach! This Shabbat’s Torah portion breaks from the chronological parashat hashavua to revisit a section of Exodus where Moses and God have a pretty intimate one-on-one about the leadership of this newly freed nation of slaves. Moses asks God to continue to lead the people in a very visible way, not just through himself, so that the whole world may know that the Israelites shall be distinguished from the...Read more...

Flame, Flamers, and Forever

03/31/2023 11:14:53 AM

Mar31

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Tzav, the second parasha in Leviticus, and it continues the detailing of the sorts of sacrifices that will be made in the Mishkan and eventually in Temple service. It also continues several reiterations of the commandment that the fire on the...Read more...

Bread and Roses

03/24/2023 01:41:22 PM

Mar24

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayikra, the first parasha of the Book of Leviticus. This parasha and most of Leviticus discusses the rituals around sacrifices: the when, what, why, how, and by whom the sacrifices are offered at the Mishkan. 

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Éirinn go Brách

03/17/2023 04:13:22 PM

Mar17

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayekhel-Pekudei, a double portion about - what else - the building of the Mishkan. And of course today is also St. Patrick’s Day, which is obviously not a Jewish holiday, but is it really a Catholic holiday as indicated by the word...Read more...

Sex Work is Work, Trafficking is Slavery

03/05/2023 12:42:04 PM

Mar5

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Tetzaveh, which mostly focuses on the garments and accroutrements of the Priests serving in the Mishkan. This is also Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat immediately preceding Purim, which includes a special extra Torah reading from...Read more...

Octavia's Terumah

02/27/2023 02:52:33 PM

Feb27

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Terumah, in which God starts to give out the instructions on the building of the Mishkan, the holy Tabernacle that will wander the desert with the Israelites and give an earthly home to the Shekhina, the Divine presence, so...Read more...

Thou Shalt Not "Single White Female" Your Neighbors

02/10/2023 11:13:41 AM

Feb10

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Yitro, in which we find the 10 Commandments and Moses learning from his father-in-law how to be a stronger leader through delegating tasks to other potential leaders in the nation. In discussing the parasha with Philip, we got into a bit of a disagreement about the final of the Big Ten. I don’t disagree with him,...Read more...

Trees, Seas, and Oases

02/06/2023 12:59:09 PM

Feb6

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Beshalach, in which we find the song of the sea and the final push of the Israelites’ escape from slavery into freedom. As you know, the holiday of Tu BiShevat is also this weekend. Although trees look dead in North America...Read more...

Books, Empowerment, and Dolly Parton

01/20/2023 01:58:04 PM

Jan20

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat VaEra, which includes a reiteration of God’s call to Moses, some feeble explanation of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, Moses and Aaron’s family trees, and the first seven of the Ten Plagues. At various points in this...Read more...

A Rabbi, a Minister, and an Imam walk into a local diner...

01/20/2023 01:56:17 PM

Jan20

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayechi, in which Jacob gives his final blessings to his children. He also declares that Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Menashe will be inheritors of Israel as equal as any of Joseph’s own brothers. Jacob prophesies that Ephraim, the younger,...Read more...

Chanukah Shabbat

01/20/2023 01:55:09 PM

Jan20

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Urim Sameach. This week's Torah portion is Parashat Miketz, in which we hear about Pharaoh's dreams that Joseph correctly interprets as portending 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine. Both Pharaoh and Joseph jump into action...Read more...

Shabbat, Gratitude, and Dinosaurs

11/18/2022 01:59:42 PM

Nov18

Shabbat Shalom! As you know, this is our first Family Shabbat of the school year, and since many of our religious school families were not sure they could attend, I wanted to collect some thoughts from our students and their parents to still imbue this service with their presence. This Shabbat is also the reading of Parashat Chayei Sarah, and unknowingly our students and their parents reflected...Read more...

Put an End to Child Sacrifice

11/11/2022 01:33:07 PM

Nov11

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayera and contains the story of the Akeidah which we read on Rosh HaShana. In accordance with my message on Rosh HaShana, Rabbis Against Gun Violence led by Rabbi Menachem Creditor has issued a call to...Read more...

Abraham's Animals

11/04/2022 02:41:30 PM

Nov4

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Lech Lecha, in which God calls out to our ancestors Avram and Sarai and tells them to leave the land they have known and travel a great distance to the Promised Land. They bring with them some family and all their wealth,...Read more...

In the Beginning....

10/21/2022 02:39:34 PM

Oct21

    In the beginning… So begins our Torah anew, or at least according to most English translations. I assumed everyone present knows at least the basics of our Creation story. There was a primordial void, and God spoke the Universe into being. God made people and set them over the Earth to be...Read more...

Water is Life

10/14/2022 02:46:16 PM

Oct14

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach! Sukkot is a time for gratitude and joy, focusing on two particular blessings for which we must be grateful and express our joy over. These are the blessings of housing, which I spoke about to some degree on Rosh HaShana, and the blessings of the...Read more...

Singing, Simcha, and Songs of Praise

10/07/2022 07:15:15 PM

Oct7

    Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Ha’azinu, Moses’s final address to the Israelites recounted in the form of a song. The Haftarah this week comes from II Samuel, chapter 22, and is also a song - the song David sings after David has defeated both Saul and the Philistines,...Read more...

Choose Hope

10/04/2022 02:53:58 PM

Oct4

Tzaharayim Tov! We arc toward the final hours of our holy day and our season of Teshuva, and we remind ourselves once more to choose hope, and as the Torah tells us, to choose life. This afternoon’s Torah portion comes from Parashat Kedoshim, known as the Holiness Code, which details many of...Read more...

Housing: Lo BaShamayim Hee

10/04/2022 02:47:44 PM

Oct4

    Boker Tov, and Tzom Kal. I hope you are having a soul-refreshing morning and a meaningful fast. This morning, as we engage in our personal and communal teshuvah, our Torah portion comes from parts of chapters 29 and 30 from Deuteronomy, reminding us of the essential equalizer that is the Torah. I...Read more...

Self-Care and Self-Affliction

10/04/2022 02:32:26 PM

Oct4

Erev Tov. I hope your fasts are starting off easily and meaningfully, and that you are taking good care of your body these next 24 hours. I say that every year, because the emphasis on fasting during Yom Kippur can be dangerous or alienating to some people and I always worry about people who...Read more...

Reading, Writing, and Torah

09/30/2022 01:20:22 PM

Sep30

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayeilech, in which Moses and Joshua make their final preparations for the succession of leadership after Moses’s death. There are several mentions in this parasha to “haTorah” - the teaching of Moses. We almost never translate Torah. We...Read more...

Sacrifice, Safety, and Security

09/25/2022 02:30:56 PM

Sep25

    Shana Tova! Our Torah reading on Rosh HaShana morning is probably the most difficult reading in our liturgical calendar. There are many other pieces of the TaNaKh similarly disturbing, and stories some Biblical scholars call “Texts of Terror,” but the Akeidah is so deeply disturbing on...Read more...

Hope is a Choice

09/25/2022 02:22:55 PM

Sep25

Gut Yontif! We embark on our ten day journey through the soul tonight. Some of us may have been preparing for this journey since Selichot last weekend, or throughout the previous month of Elul, and some may just be along for the ride. But whether you’ve done deep soul work or whether it was just...Read more...

Torah of Consolation 

09/23/2022 07:09:54 PM

Sep23

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Nitzavim, which we read again on Yom Kippur and will hear more about then. The Haftarah this week, from Isaiah chapters 61-63, is the final of seven Haftarot of Consolation, read in the seven weeks between Tisha B’Av and Rosh HaShana. In it, the prophet tells of the shared pain of God and the Heavenly Hosts along with the people of Israel as they endure the hardships of...Read more...

Balance, Blessings, and Breathing

09/16/2022 01:03:52 PM

Sep16

    Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Ki Tavo, in which again Moses reminds the people of the various commandments they will be expected to follow and more details are given to the ritual that will take place immediately after entering the land. A few weeks ago,...Read more...

Law and Order or [Social] Justice?

09/09/2022 05:55:44 PM

Sep9

Shabbat Shalom, and welcome to all our guests! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Ki Teitze, in which we find more laws than in any other parasha in the whole Torah, even the one named “Laws”. Among the lists of commandments in this portion are the rules regarding...Read more...

Debts, Remission, and Relief

08/26/2022 01:10:08 PM

Aug26

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Re’eh, in which we are promised with more blessings and curses according to our obedience to God’s law. We are also reminded how, where, and when we may consume the flesh of another living thing, and commanded to observe...Read more...

Thu, March 28 2024 18 Adar II 5784