Purim 2020 was the last in-person event celebrated by many Jewish communities around the country before the COVID-19 shutdown. Little did we understand that the essential psychological principle of Purim of hafichut – the reversibility of our world – would come to mean something even more profound than what we
The Shabbat before the holiday of Purim is known as Shabbat Zakhor (“Remember!”). We read an additional Torah passage (Deuteronomy 25:17-19) recalling Amalek, a genocidal enemy from our distant past who is both the spiritual and physical ancestor of Haman, the villain of the Purim story. Remember what Amalek did
There is a plague of darkness that has fallen not only on our land but upon the world. Actually, there are many plagues — just as in Egypt they seem to come in groups even though just one plague would be more than enough — dayyenu. The coronavirus is certainly
This d’var Torah was written during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as Passover 2020 approached. While the specific circumstances have changed since its writing, the spiritual insights remain deeply relevant. There are many things these days that can lead us to fear and anxiety. We may be worried
This d’var Torah for Purim was originally posted on the J Street website on March 5, 2020 as The Two-Way Street | Purim: The Danger Of A Single Story. It was based on the text study Purim, Prejudice and the Dangers of a Single Story (PDF) presented by American Jewish
The summer cycle of scriptural readings revolves around two sets of text. The first is the weekly cycle of readings which progresses through the final book of the Torah, Deuteronomy. The second is the ten week cycle of haftarot, or supplementary readings, selected from the writings found in the books
The great miracle of Jewish survival is not that we survived great tragedies. It is that we survived as a community ever faithful to its vision of a better world for us and for all people and not as an angry and embittered tribe. When we look at Jewish responses
This week’s Torah portion is Devarim, the opening section of the last book of the Torah known in English as Deuteronomy. This Shabbat, however, is known as Shabbat Hazon, after the opening words of the special Haftara reading: “Hazon Y’Shayahu”, “[This is] the vision of [the prophet] Isaiah”. The origins
Revelation is a tricky thing. For Moses it took place at age 80 while standing in front of a burning bush. For Abraham it was in Haran at age 75 when he heard the voice of God telling him to take a different path from his ancestors and become a
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