Parashat Ha Shavua Commentaries

This week we offer you a special take on the weekly Torah portion. Jacob Artson, Rabbi Artson’s son, turned 13 this week, and he celebrated his becoming a bar mitzvah by leading the Torah services on Rosh Hodesh Elul, where he delivered this D’var Torah on Parashat Shoftim. May he be blessed to teach Torah for many years to come, and may we be open to the many teachers to come our way! Bar Mitzvah Speech by Jacob Artson   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...

In American ideology, our bodies belong to us. We should take care of ourselves through proper diet, hygiene, sleep, and exercise, and we should avoid smoking, drugs, and too much alcohol, but those imperatives are only so that we can feel good, look good, and live a long life. If we choose to neglect our bodies or engage in activities that will harm them, that may be unwise but ultimately it is our own business. Read more...

We Americans are an optimistic bunch, always looking ahead to what is just beyond the horizon. Whether it's the newest Apple product, or the latest installment in The Fast and the Furiousseries, we just can't help but fall for the possibilities contained in something shiny and, as yet, undiscovered. Read more...

It was a day hollowed of warmth and full of February’s wrath. The wind hurled mists of ice and powder drifts against the light infantry of hats, coats and doubled scarves. If New England wind had teeth, that day those teeth would have shorn flesh off the bone. Read more...