Rabbi Shabbat Greetings
Shabbat Greetings
On this Shabbat as we celebrate Rosh Hashanah, we are asked to do something that is both simple and profoundly difficult: to remember. We remember the year that has passed. We…
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This Shabbat is different from other Shabbatot. We stand at the threshold of a new year, just before Selichot, just before Rosh Hashanah. In additiion, this year, there is another…
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This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8), is often remembered for its dramatic blessings and curses, but it begins in a much quieter place: gratitude. “When you enter the land… you…
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This week’s portion, Ki Tetzei (Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19) contains more mitzvot (commandments) than any other portion. While the laws seem unrelated, they share a common message: holilness is found in the ordinary. The Torah teaches that…
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Tonight marks exactly four weeks until we gather to welcome the new year, 5787. Elul began yesterday and the horizon of the New Year is coming into view. We read Shoftim (Deuteronomy…
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This week’s Torah portion, Re’eh (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17)begins with a powerful invitation: “See (Re’eh), I place before you today a blessing and a curse.” (11:26) The Torah does not say, “Listen,” or “Understand.” It says, “See.” Seeing…
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There is a quiet irony in the Jewish calendar. Just a little more than a week after we mourn the destruction of the Temples on Tisha B’Av, we begin reading Ekev (Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25),…
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Having just emerged from Tisha B’Av (the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av), we carry with us the memory of destruction; not only the destruction of the Holy Temple, but…
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This Shabbat has a name. It is called Shabbat Chazon – the “Sabbath of Vision,” named for the opening words of Isaiah’s haunting vision (Isaiah 1:1-27): “Chazon Yeshayahu…” We read these words on the…
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In our double-portion concluding the Book of Numbers, Matot-Masei (Numbers 30:2-36:13), the Torah does something unexpected. It lists every place the Israelites camped during their forty years in the wilderness. Forty-two stops.…
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