For 40 years, Moshe held his feelings more or less in check. But now, at the beginning of Sefer Devarim, his Book of Words, he lets loose. He spares few details and even fewer feelings as he recounts the years from the Exodus until the present, with the nation standing on the brink of the Promised Continue Reading »
The stress keeps piling on poor Moshe and Aharon. Week after week in Sefer Bemidbar, the Book of Numbers, they encounter challenges to their leadership. This week, the trouble is caused by cousin Korah, and Aharon’s priestly role is under attack. By the end of the parashah, he is still standing, but at the cost of Continue Reading »
It sure seemed like a great idea at the time. Sending scouts to check out the landscape is standard military operating procedure. So when Israel sends a reconnaissance team of 12, one per tribe, to Canaan, why does it fail so miserably? A close reading of the story in our parshah, Shelah-Lekha, led me to new ideas. Continue Reading »
At our preschool graduation this week, children in our 4-year-old class wore mortarboard hats, received diplomas, and ate cake, just as all graduates do. Though they probably didn’t notice, their ceremony included one more tradition from the end of the academic year. While they and their parents ate, mingled, and took pictures, the background music Continue Reading »
As interesting as Samson’s life was, the story of his birth announcement is just as fascinating. We read this story as the haftarah for Parshat Naso because both passages address the curious case of theNazir, whose dedication to God and holiness is to the extreme. You can read the full text of the haftarah here, but in short, a childless Continue Reading »
Though they don’t always come on consecutive days, it’s a pretty sure bet that our Torah portion, Bemidbar, and the Yom Tov of Shavu’ot will happen within the same week. That has to be by design; consider the fact that we have had two instances of double portions in the weeks since Pesah. Granted that one of them enabled us Continue Reading »
It’s time to make room on your bookshelves for a beautiful new book that will enhance your Jewish life! Conservative Judaism has, in the last dozen years or so, given us a new Siddur Sim Shalom (one for weekdays and one for Shabbat and Yom Tov), a new Humash Etz Hayim, and a new High Holy Day prayer Continue Reading »
A few years ago, I spent Shabbat in Lower Manhattan, and went to shul at Town and Village Synagogue, where I witnessed something I’d never seen before. The entire Shabbat morning service, including the Torah reading, was provided simultaneously in translation. The alternate language wasn’t English, or Russian, and it certainly wasn’t Aramaic (the language Continue Reading »
What happens when Torah and science collide? This week’s Torah reading, consisting of two portions that have much to do with medical conditions, raises the above question. A serious study of the parshiyot requires us to look at both traditional Jewish commentaries and current scientific knowledge. And those two lenses don’t always combine to produce Continue Reading »
Click the player and hear Rabbi Wise’s Additional Comments About This Week’s Message [powerpress url=”https://www.etzhayimhhb.org/wp-content/uploads/Shemini-5772.mp3″] What did a pig ever do to you to earn your wrath and disdain? Few other creatures symbolize what it means for us to be Jewish and other than does the pig. The Torah’s prohibition aside, we know of stories Continue Reading »
