January 28th, 2023 — Parshat Bo

Any one of the plagues could have been the one that changed everything. But each time, just as the threat receded, so too did Pharaoh’s will to change. We, too, are addicted to the allure of the status quo. And the shootings and the police killings persist. We must be stubborn in our pursuit of progress. Unyielding. May the memories of those whose lives were taken by violence this week stir us to work toward a more just and loving world.

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January 28th, 2023 — Parshat Bo

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January 20th, 2023

Author, lawyer and Slate Senior Editor, Dahlia Lithwick discussed her new book, Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America.

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Brief Book Synopsis: “After the sudden shock of Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016, many Americans felt lost and uncertain. It was clear he and his administration were going to pursue a series of retrograde, devastating policies. What could be done? Immediately, women lawyers all around the country, independently of each other, sprang into action, and they had a common goal: they weren’t going to stand by in the face of injustice, while Trump, Mitch McConnell, and the Republican party did everything in their power to remake the judiciary in their own conservative image. Over the next four years, the women worked tirelessly to hold the line against the most chaotic and malign presidency in living memory.”

January 14th, 2023 — Parshat Shemot

Reflections on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s use of the Hebrew Scriptures.

 

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January 7th, 2023 — Parshat Vayechi

In honor of Abraham Joshua Heschel’s 50th yahrtzeit, we revisit the central claims of his theology, exploring how wonder and a personal relationship with God can reorient our approach to a meaningful life.  Wonder reminds us that we are recipients of a gift, summoning us to the ultimate question: what are we to do with this gift?

 

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December 31st, 2022 — Parshat Vayigash

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December 24th, 2022 — Parshat Miketz

Much of the time it feels like we’re on a different path than what we hoped for or asked for or dreamed. What can Joseph and Betzalel teach us about the gifts of two very divergent paths? What do we learn from a path that is both short and long?

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December 17th, 2022 — Parshat Vayeshev

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December 16th, 2022 — Hanukkah 2022/5783 Drash

The candles in our window don’t just remind us of the miracles our ancestors experienced… they invite the world into our story. See us! we say. See our trial and our triumph, our struggle and our survival. Our story becomes real when it is held with care. And that may be the real gift, one we can give each other every day.

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December 10th, 2022 — Parshat Vayishlach

What would happen if we approached life with a posture of fullness rather than one of scarcity?

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December 3rd, 2022 — Parshat Vayetze

Even decades after Jacob stole the birthright from his brother, he sees himself, fundamentally, as a liar and a thief. When we don’t believe we can change, we invest in subverting the truth and inverting reality. Our country is in the grips of a multi-generational obfuscation, entrenching in a dangerous lie that we cannot reckon with the past, that healing is not possible from past wrongs. But individuals and nations need not be defined by our moral failings. There is another way.

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November 26th, 2022 — Parshat Toldot

In perhaps the most heartbreaking verse of the Torah, Esav cries out to his father for a blessing just like his younger brother had received. To understand these tears and the tragic arc set into motion by this moment, we turn to a surprising source for insight: The Book of Esther. Uncovering the hidden conversation between these two texts implores us to love expansively and without limits.

 

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November 19th, 2022 — Parshat Haye Sarah

There’s nothing brave about regurgitating antisemitic lies. That’s not truth to power, it’s unwitting support of white power. It’s time to deconstruct these narrative fallacies, and tell a new story.

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November 12th, 2022 — Parshat Vayera

How can we understand so called religious people aligning with a regressive politics that relishes stripping rights rather than expanding them, that honors guns over humans, fetuses over hungry children, incarceration over restorative justice, environmental devastation over stewardship? Our core theological commitments must manifest in the reality we seek to build, a society of compassion and wakefulness, love and justice. One that honors the divine image in every person.

 

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November 5th, 2022 — Parshat Lekh Lekha

Love matters most when our family is in danger. A love that reminds you how far you’ll fallen, a love that helps you walk away from the path of self-destruction. Avram exhibits that kind of love towards his nephew Lot, and we must too towards Israel, as they walk an increasingly dangerous path.

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November 4th, 2022 — Parshat Lekh Lekha

There is a direct line from the 1995 murder of Yitzhak Rabin to the ascendance of right wing, ultranationalist extremists in Israel today. The election this past week has me revisiting a question that has haunted me for more than 25 years: did the assassin murder a man or a movement?

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October 29th, 2022 — Parshat Noach

Rabbi Kasher shares a surprising teaching from his new book on Torah commentary.

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October 22nd, 2022 — Parshat Bereishit

Rather than turn against one another, we must turn toward each other. Rather than assume that your gain is my loss, your representation is my disenfranchisement, your liberation is my oppression… we must recognize that your liberation is essential to my own. We must trust that the only way to build beloved community is together. This is the moral message of the Torah: we are our brothers’ keepers.

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October 15th, 2022 — Sukkos VI (CH''M)

We think of the Bible as a fixed book, but an ancient debate amongst the Rabbis reveal how close Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) came to being left out of the canon. What’s so dangerous about this book of the Bible, and why is crucially important that it found its way in?

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October 1st, 2022 — Parashat Vayeilech

Some lessons we learn just once, but the deeper wisdom we learn over and over and over. This summer was my coping with prostate cancer and surgery. And the old lessons were there to greet me on the other side: the world is prepared for us, it takes (and we are) a village), we are marinating in love.