Parsha
Parashat Mishpatim: All or nothing
Loyalty to a path means saying, “I belong. Sometimes I will fail, sometimes I will err, but I am all in.” This is completely different from saying “I like this, but I don’t like that.”
Parashat Mishpatim: The long search for moral society
Parashat Bo: Jeremiah’s timeless promise to Israel
Jacob’s warning: Enthusiasm without restraint threatens a nation - opinion
Parashat Emor: Finding a place in time
The omer is a period of mourning but is also agriculturally significant.
Parashat Emor: The counting of the Omer
From the festival of matzah to the festival of hametz
Parshat Shmini: The honey and the sting
The deeper lesson of the Torah’s teaching is not that one must have tragedy at the very moment of triumph, but that everything contains its opposite.
Parshat Shmini: Purity of the soul, restraint and humility
Kashrut is a significant part of Jewish identity. The basic principle of kashrut is that what a person puts into his body affects not only his physical health but the purity of his soul as well.
Parashat Vayikra: New understandings of ancient practices
With this particular book of the Bible, its focus on the sacrificial system becomes a stumbling block for many trying to derive meaning from its text.
Hand, mouth or mind
There are ways to convey God's blessing even without touching.
Parashat Vayikra: ‘But I didn’t mean it!’
Four reasons, two medieval and two modern, that will help us understand something deep about the Torah and our tradition.
Parashat Vayikra: Standing before God
By offering a sacrifice, a person expresses the maximum nullification he can feel: giving life to God.
The Golden Calf Sin: How did it really happen?
Ceremonial transitions of power and authority of an elite might be two lessons learned from the events of the Golden Calf.
Parashat Ki Tisa: Why break the tablets?
By smashing the tablets, Moses was making a declaration to all of Israel: Even the handiwork of God, which you might think of as inviolable, is nonetheless just another thing.
