(A recent sermon. Skip it if you like – you won’t hurt my feelings.) THERE IS AN OLD STORY about a rabbi who was so engrossed in his Talmudic studies that he didn’t pay attention to the weekly Torah reading.…
Tag: Torah: Output
Things said.
G?d’s Hamsters
(With welcome help from special guest star Ann Autumn.) “The end is in the beginning and yet you go on.” – Samuel Beckett, Endgame You can’t know who you are without knowing where you’ve been. Mr. Beckett, most famously the…
Bargain Abasement
Sermon delivered last night (2507.25). I won’t be offended if you sit this one out. HERE’S A LITTLE-KNOWN FACT: Not every Israelite settled in the Land of Promise – but then again, that was by choice. The Torah this week,…
Talk Shop
DUE TO THE Hebrew calendar’s complexities, we sometimes double up on the weekly Torah readings. The first of this week’s two portions, Matot (Numbers 30:2-36:13), concerns the laws of vows. Words are supremely powerful in Judaism – after all, our…
Reluctant Shepherds
OUR TORAH PORTION this week (Pinchas; Numbers 25:10-30:1) contains a powerful lesson in leadership dynamics. G?d reiterates to Moses that the mistake the prophet made a few chapters ago – smacking a rock instead of commanding it to produce water…
Reverse Coarse
(Sermon delivered yesterday morning. Feel free to skip it if Jewish resilience isn’t your thing.) HERE’S A QUESTION: Why are we still here? The traditional opening of any Jewish morning prayer-service, and also what Jews say upon first entering the…
Thirsty Work
What did Moses do wrong? IN THIS WEEK’S TORAH PORTION, Chukat (Numbers 19:1-22:1), Moses disobeys G?d’s command to speak to a rock and thereby produce water for the thirsty Jews and their animals. Instead, Moses – perhaps in grief over…
Any god who is mine but not yours, any god concerned with me but not with you, is an idol.”
– Abraham Joshua Heschel
Where Are You?
(Sermon for Parashat Vayikra [Leviticus 1:1-5:26], 4/5/25.) THIS WEEK’S TORAH PORTION, LIKE the entire book of Leviticus it’s taken from, asks: “How do we get close to G?d – and survive?” Leviticus’ answer is excruciatingly detailed – so much so…
Breaking Class
(Sermon delivered this past Saturday morning. Feel free to scroll past if you’re not into that sort of thing.) KI TISA IS ONE OF those Torah portions that helps give G?d a bad name. It seems that every time we…
Hillel, Adapted
Q: “CAN YOU TEACH ME THE whole Torah in a dozen words or less?” A: “‘Don’t be a jerk.’ The rest is details; now go experience them.”
One Letter (Alright, Two)
(If you’re not hot for stretchy, out-on-a-limb Jewish linguistic mysticism, best sit this one out. Otherwise, please enjoy.) IT’S NO SECRET THAT JEWS love words. (After all, Torah begins with “God” speaking the world into being; if you need further…