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Torah

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Torah

That Point When We All Were Nameless, Faceless

By:

Rabbi Joshua Runyan

B'MIDBAR, Numbers 1:1-4:20 Ever felt like you were just a number? It's a common complaint: In the hustle of modern life, many of us feel like we're lost in the crowd, nothing more than nameless, faceless entities wandering through time. This week's Torah portion, however, turns the concept of numbers on its head, for in the Jewish way of life,...

Torah

Can Humans Hold God Accountable for Tragedy?

By:

Rabbi Danielle Stillman

BEHUKOTAI, Leviticus 26:3-27:34 In this week's portion, Behukotai, we are challenged with understanding the balance between free will and destiny, between human responsibility and God's. The portion presents a God who rewards good deeds (in this case, following the commandments) and punishes disobedience. This puts the burden of responsibility for ourselves and the world into human hands. If we act...

Torah

Do Not Tarry; You Must Run to Do the Mitzvot

Torah Portion

By:

Rabbi Howard A. Addison

BEHAR, Leviticus 25:1-26:2 Following Pesach, it's customary to study a chapter of Pirke Avot, the "Ethics of the Fathers," each Shabbat for six weeks. These talmudic aphorisms show how to live more godly lives as we prepare to receive Torah anew when the Ten Commandments are read on Shavuot. Among my favorite sayings is Ben Azzai's dictum: Run to perform...

Torah

How Do You Sanctify the Daily Act of Eating?

EMOR, Leviticus 21:1-24:23

By:

Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, Jewish Exponent Feature

We have reached the midpoint of our journey through the Torah, and are reading regulations for sanctifying behavior, dress, food and gathering places. The regulations articulated in Emor -- the focus on what the priests, and the people -- may and may not eat, encourage us to consider conversations about suitable food that appear throughout the Torah. What and how...

Torah

Holiness Means Looking and Thinking Jewish

KEDOSHIM, Leviticus 19:1-20:27

By:

Rabbi Joshua Runyan

Arriving just after the Pesach holiday and its celebration of our Divine deliverance from bondage, this week's Torah portion provides the point of it all. Why were the Jewish people taken out of Egypt, as the Haggadah emphasizes, "with an outstretched arm," with plagues and miracles, and led through a splitting sea? Why were they given the Torah? Why were...