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…
Category: Torah Commentaries
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…
Ki Tissa – Show Us Your Glory
In Parasha Ki Tissa, we encounter one of the most searching moments in Israel’s story. The golden calf has just shattered the spiritual innocence of the wilderness generation. The covenant is strained. The people are anxious. It is in that…
Tetzaveh and Shabbat Zachor – Do Not Forget
The Torah portion for this week, Tetzaveh, literally means “you shall command,” and it conveys the most imperative sense of divine instruction. It continues God’s detailed directions for the building and operation of the Mishkan. The Mishkan is the unique…
Terumah – God’s Presence in Our Homes, Hearts, and Worship
God’s Desire to Dwell Among Us The central question that runs through the book of Exodus is both simple and profound: “Is God with us or not?” This is not merely a theological inquiry but a practical one. For Israel…
Mishpatim – The Covenant of Being
If the Exodus teaches anything essential about Judaism, it is that redemption is not merely remembered. It is embodied. Israel’s foundational story does not simply recount that God once intervened in history. It proclaims something far more daring, that history…
Yitro – A Perfect Government
With Parashat Yitro we reach one of the decisive turning points in Israel’s formation as a people. The journey from Egypt to Sinai has never been merely about escape from oppression; it has been about the reordering of allegiance. From…
B’shelach – I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing
Imagine, just for a moment, if I asked everyone to join hands and we played that old Coca‑Cola jingle from the early 1970s: “I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony.” It was the perfect fusion of…