Hazzan Jessi: Connecting the Unconnectable
Earlier this week, my friend texted me a question: “Do you think of Tanakh (the canon of Torah, Prophets, and Writings) as Jewish mythology? Akin to Greek or Norse mythology, but with more staying power?” “Hmm,” I answered, “in terms of the stories, yes. But Tanakh is not only theology and mythic history; large chunks […]
Vayikra’s Divine Mystery
As we get ready for our Pesah S’darim, our Passover Seders, I’m writing to share the D’var Torah I delivered last week on the range of different ways that Torah conceives of God. In the meantime, I wish you a Hag Pesah Same’ah: May you experience the reminder that we have been in profound narrow […]
“Your People Are My People”
I’m writing to share the D’var Torah I delivered this past Friday night when we hosted our Scholar-in-Residence, Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, who offered incredible teachings Friday and Saturday. I gave our scholar-in-residence this Shabbat carte blanche to select a topic to teach about, a right she has earned both by dint of her remarkable […]
Shabbat of… the Cow?
I’m writing to share with you the teaching I delivered this past Shabbat, a Shabbat which called upon us to begin spiritually opening ourselves in preparation for the Pesah (Passover) holiday: There are nine special Shabbatot, special Sabbaths, sprinkled throughout the Jewish year that receive their own name because of special rituals or readings associated […]
Are We All Idol Worshipers?
This Shabbat is Shabbat Ki Tisa, Ki Tisa being the parashah, the Torah portion, with one of the most well known, or perhaps I should say notorious, episodes of the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings: the story of the golden calf. The basics of the story are straightforward: When the people saw that Moses was so long […]