Torah: Parashat Kedoshim. The Torah reading begins: “Holy you shall be, for holy am I, the Ever-Present-One (YHVH), your God” (Leviticus 19:1). Holy goes beyond good. Holiness requires viewing the world “as if” the caring Parent of the whole of creation. The verses of Kedoshim bring that lofty concept into daily life. I share below…
Once a month Congregation B’nai Israel participates in Sunday Supper, an interfaith effort with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to provide a free meal to anyone who wants one. Our guests are served a full meal and also take home groceries thanks to our volunteers and extended community. This program started in July 2010 and is an interfaith…
Torah: Parashat Kedoshim. The Torah reading begins: “Holy you shall be, for holy am I, the Ever-Present-One (YHVH), your God” (Leviticus 19:1). Holy goes beyond good. Holiness requires viewing the world “as if” the caring Parent of the whole of creation. The verses of Kedoshim bring that lofty concept into daily life. I share below verses of chapter nineteen…
Torah and Tidbits Torah: This Shabbat the Torah reading is Ahrei Mot, which we also read on Yom Kippur. Among the topics are the multiple sin offerings that culminated in sending the scapegoat bearing the people’s sins to die in the desert. In our tradition, Yom Kippur is a moment to reassess our past and…
Torah: This Shabbat the Torah reading is Ahrei Mot, which we also read on Yom Kippur. Among the topics are the multiple sin offerings that culminated in sending the scapegoat bearing the people’s sins to die in the desert. In our tradition, Yom Kippur is a moment to reassess our past and to start anew. And yet, we do not wait for…
Torah and Tidbits from Rabbi Elie Spitz This week there are some opportunities to learn, memorialize, and create memories: Wednesday: Sweet Sleep: Jewish and Contemporary Views and Aides. For the last six months I have focused my attention on research and writing on sleep, an ongoing fascination of mine. Here are some examples of topics…
Dear Friends, Our Pesech seders are a celebration of our collective identity. The following are some resources to help you prepare and to enrich your gathering of family and friends. 1.The Order of the Haggadah, a Program. When we read through the Haggadah its structure is unclear, which is ironic since the word “seder” means…
Torah: This Shabbat, the last before Pesech, is called “Shabbat HaGadol,” the great Sabbath. The title is taken from the haftorah of the prophet Malachi, who states that the prophet Elijah will herald the final “great day of the Lord,” a day of judgment that will lead to the Messianic Era. We are a Messiah obsessed people. Each time that we pray the amidah prayer,…
Torah: “As for the person with a leprous affection, his clothes shall be rent, his head shall be left bare, and he shall cover over his upper lip; and he shall call out, ‘Impure, Impure’” (Leviticus 13:45). Our Torah reading this week and next, describe a medical malady. The word tzara’at is often translated as leprosy, but is not what medicine today…
A short Torah teaching: This week’s Torah reading is from Tzav, the second parashah of Leviticus. The word Tzav in the Bible means command. It is the root of the word mitzvah. In Yiddish, mitzvah (and I hear myself saying the word with a Yiddish accent) conveys “a good deed.” And yet, when we do an act of goodness as a duty, we are more prone to repeat that act than…