Seeing the Whole Person In this week’s Torah portions, Tazria and Metzora, we encounter the person afflicted with tzara’at, a condition that brings not only physical suffering but also deep social isolation. The Torah instructs that the afflicted individual be…
Shemini – When the Glory Comes Homeward
Have a Nice Weekend We have learned how to end our weeks with a phrase that sounds harmless, even generous. We say to one another, have a nice weekend. It is a simple benediction of modern life, yet within it…
Passover – All Who Are Hungry?
Racial strife is nothing new. We sometimes speak as though our moment is uniquely fractured, as though division and suspicion are inventions of modernity. But the truth is more sobering. From the earliest days of human society, we have struggled…
Tzav and Shabbat HaGadol – An Altar of Peace, a Cup of Salvation, and an Offering of Thanks
As we come to Shabbat HaGadol, the Great Sabbath that ushers us to the threshold of Pesach, we find ourselves in a moment that is both reflective and anticipatory. We look back to redemption even as we prepare to experience…
Korban Copies: Becoming Living Offerings
When I was in college, I had a friend who kept a large collage on the wall of his dorm room. At first glance it looked like a collection of family photographs. The pictures were carefully arranged and gave the…
Shabbat HaChodesh – It’s About Time
Time is the most elusive yet dominant concept in the human experience. We struggle to understand it and we struggle to control it, yet our endless awareness and fear of time lurks behind all our endeavors. So, we invent devices…