“And when Moses saw that they had performed all the tasks – as the Lord had commanded, so they had done – Moses blessed them.”  (Exodus 39:43) Read more...

This derasha is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Deborah Labovitz, but you will have to read on if you want to know why. Read more...

And Moses instructed them as follows: Every seventh year, the year set for remission [of debts], at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place that He will choose, you shall read this Teaching aloud in the presence of all Israel. Gather the people - men, women, children, and the strangers in your communities – that they may hear [the Torah] and so learn to revere the Lord your God and to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching. Deuteronomy 31:10-12   Read more...

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Has it just vanished in smoke: l'esprit du temps? Several thousand years is a vast patch of history, perhaps in the interim, the novelty of a desert Sanctuary has simply seeped away. All its glory and wondrous color faded and stonewashed like an old beach-towel; its imminence lost on us, far more, in fact, than last week's paper left to yellow in the sun. The Sanctuary's time is not our time or our great-grandparents' time. What chance is there that this Sanctuary can stir our hearts as in days of old? Read more...