Whose Father? Parshah Vayigash
December 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Joseph continues his cat-and-mouse game with his puzzled brothers, who cannot connect this austere, distant, kohl-eyed stranger with their frightened, seventeen-year-old stripling brother whom they sold into slavery so many years ago. He accuses them of spying, theft, and other capital crimes against the Imperial Kingdom of Egypt; he warns them that Benjamin, their aged [...]
Fragmented Pieces of Parsha Miketz: A Midrash
December 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Miketz In my continuing series of documents from the Past, here is a piece which I acquired from the antiquities dealer, Ploni Ibn-Almoni, in the shuq-marketplace of the Old City of Jerusalem during my year abroad many decades ago. Almoni swore that he had secured it from a reliable source: one Dr. Tennessee Smith (1889-1948), an eccentric [...]
Torah Together: Parshat Be-ha’alotekha
June 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Torah Together for Parshat Be-ha’alotekha, Num. 8:1-12:16
Transforming the Mundane Into the Sacred: Parsha Acharei Mot (Lev. 16:1-18:30)
April 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Transforming the Mundane into the Sacred Parsha Acharei Mot (Lev. 16:1-18:30) Long before John F. Kennedy declared, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country,” Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad Chassidism, said something similar to a self-absorbed disciple seeking blessing: “Until now [...]
Shabbat Service Parsha Shemeni (April 20, 2012)
April 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Download the liturgy for this Shabbat service here or view the PDF below.
The Salad Days of Moses: Parsha Shemote
I like Moses a lot. I commiserate with him: how can one be “the humblest of men” but at the same time, lead a people so fractious, argumentative, and independent-minded as us Jews? And yet, that was his life’s mission: self-destructively workaholic, misogynistic more than often, and not much of a father (his two sons are mere names, [...]