This week we begin the Torah again. Well, some of us do. Actually, at the synagogue where I am a member, Temple Beth Am Los Angeles - and including the Library Minyan, where I most frequently daven - we will begin with the second third of Parashat Bereshit, as we begin the second year of the triennial cycle. There are many good reasons why some Conservative Jewish communities choose the option of reading in this way. Nonetheless, as with most things in life, there are also trade-offs, things that can be lost. Read more...

During our recent orientation of new rabbinical students, we sat in a circle with our fifteen new students.  The session leader asked each person to share with the group one thing that they wanted the others to know about them.  One student, when it came to his turn, said “While it may seem on the outside like I am laid back and confident, that’s only a cover for what is really going on inside of me.  On the inside, I am panicking, not knowing how to believe it the goodness of people and of the world when there is so much evil around us.” Read more...

It's in every depiction of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, from the silliest cartoon to the most treasured works of art in the greatest museums. Imagine any variant you like in your mind, and there it is, dangling from the tree. An apple. We all "know" that the forbidden fruit was an apple, don't we? But how do we know that? I'll give you a hint how we don't know it: from the actual text of Genesis. Read more...

"In the beginning God created heaven and earth" (Breishit/Genesis 1:1) This verse seems to be one of the hardest verses of the Torah to comprehend. Every word begs for multiple questions and attempts of interpretation. For example: Breishit (in the beginning) - If there is a beginning, what was before hand? The Talmud will address this in one manner in P'sachim 54, when highlighting those things that existed before creation. Read more...

"Breisheet barah Adonai et hashamayim v'et ha-aretz - In the beginning, God created heaven and earth..." Read more...