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Shabbat Weekly Dvar Torah

Our Sacred Mission: Finding the Light After October 7th

Aug 16, 2024

Our Sacred Mission: Finding the Light After October 7th

This week we observed Tisha b’Av, commemorating all the destructions, forced conversions, expulsions, and massacres in our history, culminating in the Shoah. This year, we had yet another disaster to add to this pageant of pain and loss: Hamas’ attack on October 7th. Just as in other times we composed elegies of lament, or kinot, recited every Tisha b’Av, so some have stepped forward with new lamentations.
Torah is Our Foundation

Aug 9, 2024

Torah is Our Foundation

This Shabbat we begin the last of the Five Books, the Book of Deuteronomy or Devarim ("words" in Hebrew). The Book is primarily a review (Deutero – Greek for “repetition”) of the previous 4 books, with Moses exhorting the Israelites to remember what was set down over the previous 40 years. Clearly, this is a new generation that was not present at Mt. Sinai and is now being commanded to recall the moment as if they had been there themselves. This is the beginning of the unique Jewish concept of passing on the heritage of collective revelation – as if we had all been there. Moses, at the age of 120 years, reviews what the “children of Israel” have been through. He rebukes the people, admonishes them for some of their derelictions, and charges them to keep the Torah in the future.
The Wilderness Experience

Aug 2, 2024

The Wilderness Experience

For 40 years, after narrowly escaping Pharaoh’s pursuing army at the Sea of Reeds, the Israelites roamed this unforgiving land, crisscrossing its hills and ravines, beset by challenges, struggling to find ways to live together and obey the dictates of God. Masei opens with a list of 42 spots in the wilderness where the Israelites camped along the way — 42 phases of their epic trek from slavery toward the ever-elusive Promised Land.
Three Types of Names: The Daughters of Zelophehad

Jul 26, 2024

Three Types of Names: The Daughters of Zelophehad

In Parshat Pinchas, this week’s Torah portion, we are flooded with names. The Parsha recounts a census that highlights the most important names from each of the tribes of Israel. Among them are seven names of women, remarkable and regrettably, the greatest number found in any one Torah portion. Prominent in this list are the five “Daughters of Zelophehad” -- Mahla, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirza… We must wonder why these five women got so much attention in the Torah.
Prostrate, but with Eyes Unveiled: A Prayer for Parshat Balak

Jul 19, 2024

Prostrate, but with Eyes Unveiled: A Prayer for Parshat Balak

It’s 2AM and I can’t sleep. I’ve got a trip planned tomorrow to the Gaza Envelope and I’m scared. Not for my personal safety. I’m scared for my psyche and the pain I will be putting it through. My group plans to visit the site of the Nova festival and Kibbutz Kfar Aza. I’ve seen footage from these places; I wonder what it will mean to see them in person. The atrocities our people endured there on October 7th are incomprehensible and I don’t really want to stare them in the face.
Edom and the Death of Alliances

Jul 12, 2024

Edom and the Death of Alliances

This week’s Torah portion, Parshat Chukat, is known for the sequential deaths of Moses’ two siblings, Miriam and Aaron. The loss described in this parsha is personal and national. The Israelites are finally about to reach their destination, but without the beloved leaders who had sustained them along the way. There is also a third family member who “dies” in this week’s parsha, who is rarely spoken about. That sibling is Edom.
Korach & the Dangers of Political Revenge Fantasies

Jul 5, 2024

Korach & the Dangers of Political Revenge Fantasies

The Korach revolt, described in this week’s Torah portion, reads as pure political fantasy. For anyone who has lain awake at night dreaming of revenge, it is deliciously satisfying -- at least at first. Not only does God publicly side with Moses and Aaron against the rebels who want to usurp their roles, but he also splits the earth beneath their feet, swallowing them whole before the entire nation!
Focusing on Hope to Get Through the Wilderness

Jun 28, 2024

Focusing on Hope to Get Through the Wilderness

Fear is a powerful emotion. For people with anxiety, even a little bit of fear can be crippling if our minds get wrapped up in playing over and over again all of the things that could possibly go wrong, regardless of how improbable they are...
True Humility

Jun 21, 2024

True Humility

This Dvar Torah is specially dedicated in memory of Marshall Baltuch z”l, a past Director of the Miami March of the Living. Our parsha for this week – Beha’alotecha – is a treasury of teachings that call out to be illuminated in the light of Mussar. Mussar is a Jewish spiritual practice that provides practical guidance on how to live an ethical and meaningful life, based on the idea that cultivating inner virtues can help people improve themselves. I want to focus on the teaching about humility (anava) we find in B’Midbar / Numbers 12:3 that compels our attention above all the other wonderful elements in this parsha.
Blessings in Silence

Jun 14, 2024

Blessings in Silence

Last week I was away on a seven-day silent Jewish meditation retreat led by the Or HaLev organization under the leadership of Rabbi Dr. James Jacobson-Maisels. The idea of a silent Jewish meditation retreat (let alone 7 days of it) evokes one of three reactions from people: 1. Isn’t silent and Jewish an oxymoron? 2. YOU are doing this?!? No Way!!! 3. Oh that’s kind of cool. Tell me more… I’m going to assume, dear reader, that you are the third reaction and tell you a bit more.