Parshat Shemini: What Makes a Chasid Kosher?
What’s kosher? Literally, “acceptable” or “fit.” In Leviticus 11, which we read this week, kosher means fit to eat. With so much time spent...
Pesach: We Look to God’s Attributes to Know How to be Human Beings
Could anything in religion be more perplexing than the sin of the Golden Calf? A major concern of religion is gaining forgiveness, in the...
Parshat Tzav: Humility a Component in Serving God
Torah text is inscribed upon the skin of a once-living creature. Such a creature was once asked to speak to God for us. Now...
Parshat Vayikra: Showing Commitment Through Sacrifice
This week’s parshah is about sacrifices. Something that specifically caught my interest was this line: “No meal offering that you offer to God shall...
Parshat Vayakhel/Pekudei: Holy Time, Holy Space, Holy Community
Rabbi Shelly Barnathan
For several weeks now, the Torah has discussed the Mishkan — the portable sanctuary that the Israelites were instructed to create for...
Parshat Ki Tisa: The Teachings of the Broken Tablets
Rabbi Aaron Levitt
We read in Parshat Ki Tisa of Moshe Rabbeinu smashing the luchot (tablets) upon seeing B’nai Yisrael worshiping an eigel zahav (golden...
Parshat Tetzaveh: Dressing for the Occasion
Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner
When did “clothes make the man” come into our vocabulary and/or belief system?
Popular explanations attribute the expression to Samuel Langhorne Clemens,...
Nadiv Lev: Offerings of the Heart
Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit | Parshat Terumah
Immediately upon breaking free from oppression and our birth as a people, not only clans, we have been...
Parshat Mishpatim: After the Ten Commandments, Learning About Specific Mitzvot
Now that the Jews have received the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai (in last week’s Torah portion, Yitro) and accepted the Torah, G-d teaches...
Handing Down of the Ten Commandments From Sinai: Parshat Yitro
Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro (Yitro), who lives in Midian, hears the news of all the amazing miracles that G-d did for the Jewish people, and...
