Recent Weekly Torah
For Joel
REPRINT FROM RABBI GAIL LABOVITZ 5771
I wrote this drasha three years ago when our daughter was about to leave for college. Now it is our son's turn: two days after Shabbat Shoftim he will board a flight to Israel to spend the school year there as a participant in the Nativ gap-year program. The wishes and thoughts I had about this transition regarding his sister are no less true for him. This week, this drasha is "For Joel".
- - - - - - -
Read more...
5764
Sukkot is a festival of striking beauty and contrasts. For one week each year, we abandon the stolid permanence of our homes and live, instead, in the fragile, temporary structure of sukkot (booths). These booths remind us that we do not truly own our possessions. Things that we hoard and accumulate we will one day pass on to others. They can be lost, or broken, or stolen. The only true possessions we own are deeds of care and service, mitzvot.
Read more...
Is God Really Blessed by Our Deeds?
Surely the most famous passage from the Torah is the Shema, the verse from today’s Torah portion that proclaims: “Hear O Israel! The Holy One is our God, The Holy One alone.” That verse is recited twice during public prayer (morning and afternoon services) and once in bed before going to sleep for the night. Many synagogues emblazon those words above the Aron Kodesh, the Holy Ark, or on the wall of their Sanctuary. And, traditionally, those are the last words a Jew recites immediately before dying.
Read more...
Fruits of Our Land
Read more...