facebook
twitter

needayoutubeicon donate

torah commentary
2IUR_Rabbi_Martin_William_Shorr.jpg
Broken promises addressed by Torah
Naso, Numbers 4:21-7:89 Parsha Naso is interesting. While a great deal of the sedra refers to its name, identifying the offerings and count of the leaders of each tribe, or nasiam, there are iso...
May 17, 2013 | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
full story
8WI6_Greenbaum__Alex_NEW.jpg
Our firstborn no longer belong to God
Bamidbar, Numbers 1:1-4:20 Once upon a time, a long time ago, every firstborn belonged to God. We were always supposed to give the first of all “our fruits” to God, literally. Now, let’s go way b...
May 09, 2013 | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
full story
<i>Rabbi Aaron Bisno</i>
Shabbat as a utopian ideal
Behar-Behukotai, Leviticus 25:1-27:34 This week’s Torah reading is drawn from a double portion, Behar-Behukotai. Behar is associated with the laws of sabbatical; that is, we are instructed to al...
May 02, 2013 | 0 0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend
full story
<i>Rabbi Scott Aaron</i>
You kiss your mother with that mouth? Blasphemy then and now
Parshat Emor, Leviticus 21:1 – 24:23 This week’s portion ends with a troubling story of blasphemy, social isolation and death.  (I know … a lot of our Torah portions have troubling stories of bla...
Apr 25, 2013 | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
full story
<i>Rabbi James Gibson</i>
‘Can’t we all just get along?’
Achare Mot–Kedoshim, Leviticus 16:1-20:27 Those famous words, “Can’t we all just get along?” were plaintively said by Rodney King, whose beating at the hands of the Los Angeles Police more than ...
Apr 18, 2013 | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
full story
<i>Rabbi Joe Hample</i>
Getting it together
Tazria-Metzora, Leviticus 12:1-15:33 Just between you and me, I feel a lot of ambivalence.  I’m full of faith and doubt, calm and stress, gloom and hope.  I’m an introverted extrovert, a sloppy p...
Apr 10, 2013 | 1 1 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
full story
Archives
Shabbat Shekalim: A little bit goes a long way
Pekudei, Exodus 38:21-40:38
by Rabbi Scott Aaron
Agency for Jewish Learning
Mar 03, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 15 15 recommendations | email to a friend
March 5 is Shabbat Shekalim, one of four special Shabbats preceding Passover in the Hebrew month of Adar that have special thematic Torah readings in addition to the scheduled Torah portion for tha...
The embroidered screen
Vayakhel, Exodus 35:1-38:20
by Rabbi Paul Tuchman
Temple B'nai Israel, White Oak
Feb 28, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 12 12 recommendations | email to a friend
Construction of the mishkan, the portable sanctuary, is the main subject of Vayakhel, this week’s Torah portion. The gathering of materials, the appointment of artist/managers, the fabrication of c...
Jewish heroes made the right moves on Purim
Ki Tissa, Exodus 30:11-34:35
by Rabbi Joseph S. Weiss
B’nai Emunoh Congregation
Feb 17, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 8 8 recommendations | email to a friend
This week would be Purim, if it were not a leap year in the Hebrew calendar, and we would have read the Megilla. In the Megilla of Esther, Mordechai overhears Bigthan And Terresh plotting secretly ...
Tetazaveh – Where is Moses?
Tetzaveh, Exodus 27:20-30:10
by Rabbi Aaron Bisno
Rodef Shalom Congregation
Feb 10, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 11 11 recommendations | email to a friend
Jewish tradition teaches that as Moses was the Israelites’ first political leader, his older brother, Aaron, was their first religious leader. Yet for all their unique accomplishments, neither Aar...
If you build it, God will come; if you don’t, God won’t
South Hills Terumah, Exodus 25:1-27:19
by Rabbi Mark Joel Mahler
Temple Emanuel of South Hills
Feb 03, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 16 16 recommendations | email to a friend
“Do you ever have doubts about God?” One of my confirmation students asked me this question recently. I took her question seriously. I wanted to give her not merely a quick answer, but a good one...
Is idolatry still with us?
Yitro, Exodus 18:1-20:23
by Rabbi Barbara AB Symons
Temple David, Monroeville
Jan 20, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 12 12 recommendations | email to a friend
Who are your idols? When reviewing the Ten Commandments, many of us probably skim the second commandment, the one about idols. That was a biblical commandment for biblical times, right? Yet becau...
First steps toward freedom: Remembering Debbie Friedman
Beshalach, Exodus 13:17-17:16
by Rabbi Amy B. Hertz
Rodef Shalom Congregation
Jan 14, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 11 11 recommendations | email to a friend
The crossing of the Sea of Reeds, which we read about in this week’s Torah portion, Beshalach, marked a pivotal moment for the Israelites. It transformed an enslaved group of individuals into a fr...
‘Go’… and Happy Birthday
Bo, Exodus 10:1 –13:16
by Cantor Richard Berlin, Spiritual Leader
Parkway Jewish Center
Jan 06, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 11 11 recommendations | email to a friend
A parsha’s name usually comes from its first important word. Bo is the fourth word this week. This parsha starts, “The Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart … that you m...
The season of bringing signs
Vaera, Exodus 6:2-9:35
by Rabbi Michael Werbow
Congregation Beth Shalom
Dec 29, 2010 | 0 0 comments | 12 12 recommendations | email to a friend
Moses is trying to tackle a big job. He not only has to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go so they can serve God, he also has to convince the Israelites. The signs that God gives Moses: his...
The biblical mama grizzly
Shemot, Exodus 1:1-6:1
by Rabbi Scott Aaron
Agency for Jewish Learning
Dec 23, 2010 | 0 0 comments | 12 12 recommendations | email to a friend
This week’s Torah portion, Shemot, contains one of the most perplexing stories in the Torah. While Exodus 4:24-26 is only three lines, it has long raised pages of questions: “At a night encampment ...