When I began to write the eKI column for this week, I looked back on my hard drive. I discovered that I had composed the eKI article for this portion exactly one year ago. As I read over my words from last year, I decided to utilize sections from my...
This week’s Torah Portion, Hayei Sarah, the fifth sidrah in the first Torah Book, Bereshit/Genesis, begins with the death of the first matriarch of the Jewish people, Sarah our Mother. Even though the portion is entitled “Sarah’s Life,” chapter 23 begins with the mournful announcement of her death after 127...
We learn from Jewish tradition that we must never be far away from the study of Torah! This past week, Jews all over the world celebrated the holiday of Simchat Torah. We rejoiced together with singing and dancing because we completed the reading of the entire Torah! But as soon...
This Shabbat, we read Parashat Ki Tetzei, the sixth portion in the book of Deuteronomy. This section is packed full of important laws delivered by Moses to the Israelites in his final discourse and review of the Torah before they cross over the Jordan River on their way into Eretz...
This Shabbat, we begin the reading of the fifth book of the Torah, the book of D’varim. Sefer D’varim is very different from the other four Torah books we have read up to now. The time span of this volume is small; Moses begins to speak his three discourses exactly...
The Torah portion of Balak teaches us a strange story. All the miraculous events that we have learned about in the Torah thus far can be comprehended in their historical context, but the story of the talking she-donkey and her master Balaam who, upon command to curse the Israelites, can...
B’ha-a-lo-techa: The March Begins, Miriam’s Nastiness, Moses’ Verbal Prayer for Her Good Health, and To Bigotry No Sanction As we begin the reading of B’haalotecha, the third portion of B’Midbar/Numbers, the Israelites remain encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai. They stay at this location for a full year after...
This week, we read a double Torah portion. In the Jewish calendar as established by the Masoretes, the Rabbinic scholars living in Safed in the seventh and eighth centuries of the Common Era, there are 54 Torah portions. In the Jewish lunar/solar year, there are 50 weeks. On four Shabbatot...
This coming weekend is an auspicious time for Jews the world over! This Shabbat is called Shabbat Hagadol/The Great Shabbat! The requisite Torah portion is Tzav, the second Sidrah in the book of VaYikra/Leviticus. At the end of Shabbat on Saturday evening, we go directly into the Passover Seder! And...
The portion Terumah contains several ideas that are incredibly relevant to us today. This Shabbat we are reading the seventh portion of Sh’mot/Exodus. The dramatic and momentous events of the previous weeks’ Sidrot/portions have now happened. The disparate collection of former slaves have come together as Am Yisrael, the Nation...
