http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php en plevin@jewishtimes.com Copyright 2008 2008-05-13T11:17:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/parshat_emor/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/parshat_emor/#When:03:00:00Z Rabbi I know tells about showing the sanctuary to a preschool class. As she points around the room, she asks if anyone knows the name of the items. “What are these?” “Shabbat candles!” “And this?” “The ark!” Finally, she points above the ark and asks, “Does anyone know what this is called?” A bright-eyed little boy raises his… Torah 2008-05-09T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/jewish_wisdom/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/jewish_wisdom/#When:03:00:00Z   Zionism’s mission is different today. Sixty years ago, and decades prior to then, Zionism was the national and political movement of the Jewish people to settle again in the land of our ancestors, the land of Israel. Zionism’s goal was to establish a state for the Jews, to make the Jewish nation and the… Torah 2008-05-02T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/blinding_hate/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/blinding_hate/#When:03:00:00Z There’s a concept that the Torah has not a single extra phrase, not even a single superfluous word. This idea is of fundamental importance in appreciating the depth of Judaism, for if it’s true, the seemingly insignificant can teach us some of the most profound life lessons. In Exodus 14:6 we are told in regard to… Torah 2008-04-25T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/its_all_there/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/its_all_there/#When:03:00:00Z Every year JNF sends rabbis a packet of JNF-themed model sermons for every parsha. They hope to encourage you to deliver one, whenever it suits you. That suggests that the Torah portion is almost infinitely malleable. Whatever you have in mind can be made to fit this week’s reading. This dvar Torah fits that model, but… Torah 2008-04-18T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/a_full_life/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/a_full_life/#When:03:00:00Z On a Saturday afternoon, about thirty years ago, as Shabbos slowly ebbed away, one of the members of the Maimonides Minyan in Boston approached the famed Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik with a question. Why, he wanted to know, do we no longer have the physio-spiritual ailment known a tzara’as? After all, two consecutive Torah portions, Tazriah and Metzorah,… Torah 2008-04-11T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/time_bound/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/time_bound/#When:03:00:00Z Rabbi Sidney Greenberg tells this story: A man goes to Israel for a vacation. As he walks down the street, he realizes that he has forgotten his watch. He stops a man and asks for the time. “Sorry,” the man says, “I don’t own a watch.” “You don’t own a watch?! How do you… Torah 2008-04-04T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/humble_success/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/humble_success/#When:03:00:00Z Among the rites of spring is the anticipation of a new baseball season. Even for teams with low expectations, a new season brings hope and imagination. Before play starts every team is in first place! All of us are not baseball fans but every one of us appreciates the annual cycles of different seasons and hope-filled possibilities. … Torah 2008-03-28T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/blood_pudding/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/blood_pudding/#When:04:00:00Z As I sit down to write this Dvar Torah, I am brought back to my days of living in Israel. When I was on a program there, I met a guy from Wyoming. I assumed this fellow was Jewish. I was pleasantly surprised to find out he was actually not Jewish, but seriously interested in converting. … Torah 2008-03-21T04:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/torat_kohanim/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/torat_kohanim/#When:04:00:00Z This week we turn to day-lit evenings and to Vayikra, Leviticus, and the third book of the Bible. Known by the sages as Torat Kohanim, The Manual of the Priesthood, the book is largely that: instructions for the investment of the priests and the sacred service. Long after the Temple no longer stands it might be… Torah 2008-03-14T04:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/bells_are_ringing/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/torah/jt/torah/bells_are_ringing/#When:04:00:00Z Yesterday I observed an all too common sight within our preschool.  One of the children had found a bell bracelet and had attached it to her ankle.  If you are not familiar with what I am talking about, this is a pseudo-musical instrument made for young kids that can be placed around one’s wrist or ankle and makes… Torah 2008-02-15T04:00:00-05:00