Rabbi Shabbat Greetings

In his famous song, “My Way,” Frank Sinatra shares: And now the end is here; And so I face that final curtain, my friend I’ll make it clear. I’ll state my…

Read More

In 1894, President Grover Cleveland followed the examples of Oregon, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York and declared the first Monday of September Labor Day, in celebration of those who…

Read More

This Torah portion, Ki Tetze (Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19) has the largest concentration of mitzvot  – commandments – of any portion; 74 out of the traditional 613 commandments are found in it. Of…

Read More

Our journey from slavery in Egypt to freedom in our Promised Land is an essential theme of our Torah. This collective memory shapes our liturgy, in prayers such as Mi…

Read More

In this week’s Torah portion, Re’eh (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17), Moses explains to the Jewish People: “See, I give you today a blessing and a curse”. (11:26) But why use the verb “SEE”? Why…

Read More

We read in this week’s Torah portion, Eikev (Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25), Take care lest you forget Adonai your God and fail to keep [God’s] commandments, rules, and laws that I enjoin…

Read More

There are a plethora of crime TV shows. In one series, the detectives, after some good sleuthing (and not so great dialogue), were interviewing witnesses and trying to convince various…

Read More

The Book of Deuteronomy, Devarim (Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22) which we begin reading this week, is written in a different style than the earlier biblical books – not from the perspective of…

Read More

Our portion this week opens right after the priest, Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1), has committed a vigilante act and has executed an Israelite prince, along with his Midianite girlfriend, for having…

Read More

Every so often, I learn something very surprising, something that I had no idea to be the case. Here’s an example: Those of you who have lived in the New…

Read More