Metzora 5782 (Shabbat HaGadol) Leviticus 14:1 – 15:33 Rabbi Baht Yameem Weiss  This week’s Torah portion Metzora speaks about contamination that can affect people’s homes.  Leviticus 14: 34-36 says, “When you enter the land of Canaan that I give you as a possession, and I inflict an eruptive plague (nega tzaraat) upon your house in […]

Tazria 5782 (Shabbat HaChodesh) Leviticus 12:1 – 13:59 Rabbi Gary Pokras  Once, a friend who is a Methodist minister asked me how I would handle a crisis of faith so deep that it would challenge my commitment to Judaism. I remember thinking for a while before answering his question with another question, which is what […]

Shemini 5782 (Shabbat Parah) Leviticus 9:1 – 11:47 Rabbi Gary Pokras    Things start to move quickly in Shemini: the altar and the priesthood are dedicated with pomp and ceremony, and then later, Aaron’s sons are consumed by Divine fire for not following the laws of sacrifices. With all this drama, it is understandable that […]

Tzav 5782 Leviticus 6:1 – 8:36 Rabbi Gary Pokras    Command Aaron and his sons, saying: “This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering which will remain upon the altar all night to the morning, and the fire of the altar will burn on it.”  [Lev. 6:2]  The burnt offering, […]

VaYikra 5782 (Shabbat Zachor) Leviticus 1:1 – 5:26 Rabbi Gary Pokras  To put it mildly, the book of Leviticus is a challenge. The entire book completely abandons the narrative of the Exodus from Egypt, leaving it to the next book of the Torah to pick up. Instead, the book of Leviticus focuses almost exclusively on […]