Parashat Ha Shavua Commentaries

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...

"Did you drop something?" is usually the reaction I get almost every Shabbat from at least one congregant at the end of Shabbat morning prayers upon exiting the sanctuary. This is because of the practice that I was taught in my youth and still adhere to. It actually appears in the small print at the end of some prayer books. Read more...

Dear Friends, We now find ourselves completely enmeshed in the Aseret Y'mei Teshuvah, The 10 Days of Repentance. These sacred days leading up to Yom Kippur encourage us to look deeply at our lives, our actions, and our dreams for the future. No problem, right? We thought we would offer some help in directing you to a few of the major things worth thinking about this year.  Below you'll find our latest DVD, Choose Life IV: Holy Day Conversations.  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...

In Moses's second to last speech to the children of Israel, before he dies and they enter the land, he hands them the "keys to the city" as it were. The centerpiece of this speech, coming after the rewards and punishments of the covenant, and right before the exhortation to choose good and therefore life, is the criterion for membership in the community. Read more...