There is something fitting about reading the double portions of Chukat/Balak (Numbers 19:1-25:9) while preparing to sit beside the ocean this evening with our friends from Monmouth Reform Temple. The Torah portions take us…

In this week’s Torah portion, Korach (Numbers 16:1-18:32), we encounter a story about leadership, responsibility, and the challenges that arise when people lose sight of what binds a community together. Korach and his followers…

This week we read Sh’lach L’cha (Numbers 13:1-15:41) the story of the twelve scouts sent to explore the Land of Israel. Ten return with a report shaped by fear. They see obstacles, dangers,…

This week’s Torah portion, Beha’alotecha (Numbers 8:1-12:16) opens with a simple but powerful image: Aaron is instructed to kindle the lamps of the menorah so that they shine forward. The Torah could…

There is something almost disorienting about returning to the regular rhythm of Torah after moments of upheaval. This week, as we read Naso (Numbers 4:21-7:89), many of us carry a quiet exhaustion.…

This Shabbat presents us with an unusual moment in the Jewish calendar. There is no regular Torah portion this week because, in much of the Jewish world, Shavuot is still being observed…

As we gather at this season of transitions and thresholds, we stand in a remarkable convergence of moments: Graduation, Yom Yerushalayim, beginning the fourth book of the Torah, Bemidbar (Numbers), and the approach…

There’ is a mystical teaching from the Zohar (collection of writings) that there is a gentle thread that runs through this season of the Jewish year. This is a thread…

We find ourselves in a stretch of sacred time that feels both structured and searching. We are counting the Omer, day by day, step by step, moving from liberation toward…