Counting More Than Numbers There is something both necessary and unsettling about a census. Most of us understand why governments conduct them. Demographic information helps determine where roads are built, where hospitals are needed, how schools are funded, and how…
Category: Torah Commentaries
Behar and Bechukotai – The Jubilee and the King: Proclaiming Liberty in the Lord
This week’s double Torah portion, Parashat Behar and Parashat Bechukotai (Leviticus 25–27), opens a window into the extraordinary generosity of Hashem. It reveals a God whose kindness is not confined to individual blessing but extends into the structures of society…
Emor – Covenantal Identity in an Age of Individualism
What does it mean to belong to a people of God in an age that worships the individual? We live in a culture that elevates autonomy to the highest good. The language of rights, self-expression, and personal freedom is woven…
Acharei Mot – Bloody Confusion
Seeing the C Change Last week I found myself browsing in a bookstore, and I couldn’t help but notice something striking. The sections on Judaism and spirituality seemed to be shrinking, while entire walls were devoted to fantasy, supernatural romance,…
Tazria and Metzora – The Lightness of Grace
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…