Noach – 5778 Genesis 6:9 – 11:32 Part of the genius of Torah is that it does not start with Judaism or even Jews, but with humanity. Neither Adam nor Eve were Jewish, nor were Cain or Abel. The Jewish narrative does not begin until (in next week’s parasha) God calls upon Abram to leave […]
Bereshit – 5779 Genesis 1:1 – 6:8 There is more to Torah than meets the eye! By design, the Torah is written in such a way that it cannot be understood by simply reading it as a book. It requires us to look more deeply, to question and challenge both the text and ourselves as […]
Ki Tavo (Selichot) 5872 Deut. 26:1 – 29:8 Rabbi Gary Pokras KI Tavo contains a beautifully concise history of the Israelite people, which is included in the maggid, the narrative section of the Passover Haggadah. Yet, we do not read this passage in the annual cycle until right before Selichot, the service which anticipates our […]
Ki Tetze 5872 Deut. 21:10 –25:19 Rabbi Baht Yameem Weiss If you see your fellow’s ox or sheep gone astray, do not ignore it, you must take it back to your fellow. If your fellow doesn’t live near you or you do not know him, you shall bring it home and it shall remain […]
Shoftim 5872 Deut. 16:18 – 21:9 Rabbi Gary Pokras Torah exists to a great extent to teach us how to create just communities, and this week’s parasha is a focal point towards that end. “Tzedek, tzedek, tirdof – Justice, justice, you shall pursue” [Deut. 16:20] is one of the foundational verses of Torah, yet how […]
Re’eh 5782 Duet. 11:26-16:17 Rabbi Baht Yameem Weis “If there is a needy person among you, one of your kin in any of your settlements in the land that the Eternal your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kin. Rather you must open your hand […]
Ekev 5872 Deut. 7:12 – 11:25 Rabbi Gary Pokras There is an old joke that Jews will rarely miss an opportunity to take something simple, and then make it complicated and counterintuitive. Take for example, the mealtime blessings. In the Christian world, it is common for one person at the table to compose a detailed […]
VaEtchanan 5872 Deut. 3:23 – 7:11 Rabbi Gary Pokras “You shall the love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your stregth.” [Deut. 6:5] What does it mean to love God with everything we have? For years I have struggled to find the answer, and to be […]
Tisha B’Av 5872 Lamentations Rabbi Gary Pokras The destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, which we commemorate and mourn on Tisha B’Av seem a long way off. It has been almost two-thousand years since the end of the sacrificial cult, and most contemporary Jews do not hope for its return. According to […]
