I learned this story from Rabbi Ed Feinstein, the greatest of rabbinic storytellers.  Once upon a time, there lived a wealthy man whose greatest joy was to sleep in synagogue. Each Shabbat he would find a comfortable place on a pew in the back, settle in, and let the songs of thanksgiving and praise that surrounded him lull him into a deep and restful slumber.  Read more...

Parshat Terumah focuses on the construction of the 'Mishkan' (Tabernacle), a portable tent filled with sacred objects used in early Jewish ritual. What is the purpose of this building?  Why would Israel want a portable building, or any building at all?  Isn't a 'brit' (covenant) with the God of the universe sufficient? Apparently not. Read more...

As a people, we pride ourselves on education and place great value in continuing to grow and learn throughout all the stages of our lives. We take delight in the number of Jewish Nobel Prize winners and there are endless jokes about our children becoming doctors, lawyers, and accountants. Read more...

My son recently celebrated his eighth birthday, and I spent the few days prior to his party baking the birthday cake. On Friday, I bought ingredients and on Saturday night I baked a rectangular cake as well as a circular one. On Sunday, I decorated the cake. First, I made white, red and black frosting. I then shaped the rectangular cake into a bowling pin and frosted it accordingly — even adding a red liquorish for the stripes of the pin and black liquorish for the bottom. I frosted and decorated the circular cake as a bowling ball to accompany the pin. Read more...

This week's parasha contains what may be one of the most unexpected mitzvot in all of Torah - one that not only seems to be without a clear reason, but which also seems to risk violating one of the most sacred principles in all of Judaism. As part of the extended instruction for how to build the mishkan, the portable sanctuary that would serve as the Israelites' center of worship while in the desert, God tells Moshe to build an ark, which will hold the stone tablets on which the Aseret haDibrot, the Ten Utterances, are inscribed. So far, so good. Read more...