Rabbi Shabbat Greetings

Last night and today, we celebrate the festival of Shavuot. We, like many Reform congregations in the Diaspora, follow a Festival calendar that is similar to that of the land…

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This Shabbat, we begin the fourth book of the Torah – Bemidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20), or Numbers. This book is the metamorphosis of the Children of Israel into a real Nation. …

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This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day. Have you heard the one about how many Jewish mothers it takes to change a light bulb? “That’s O.K.,” the Jewish mother says, “I’ll…

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Our portion this week, Emor (Leviticus 21:1-24:23), deals with many commandments, the largest part relates to Jewish laws of the priestly class who served God in the Temple. One of these…

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This week we celebrated Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom Ha`atzma’ut (Independence Day) in Israel. Unlike in America, Memorial day is intrinsically connected to Independence day, one following immediately upon the heels of…

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This week, we read a double Torah portion, Tazria Metzora (Leviticus 12:1-15:33) and we welcome the new month of Iyar.  The portion which includes in it a challenging description of Tzara’at a…

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Are we allowed to wonder about God’s actions? Are we allowed to suggest that God may be acting unfairly? This coming week on Monday, April 17 at 7:30 pm, we will…

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The Haggadah (the Passover book that we use at the seder) tells of our people’s journey from the suffering of slavery to our wild, sea-splitting-open redemption. Around the seder table…

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The Shabbat before Passover is called Shabbat Hagadol (the Great Sabbath), a phrase deriving from the last verse of the Haftarah portion (Malachi 3:4-24) read on that day which declares that…

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As we make the transition from the second book, Exodus, to the third book, Leviticus, the Torah shifts from describing the construction of the Mishkan (portable tabernacle) to describing its operations. At…

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