Twenty to thirty years is considered to be a generation. We often consider the days as long but the years as short. This shabbat marks 30 years since the celebration of my brother’s bar mitzvah, Parshat Korach. Eyal was a quadriplegic and ventilator dependent. His voice was silent, we read his lips to communicate. These physical restrictions did not stop Eyal from an aliyah to the Torah, chanting the haftorah, and delivering a most impactful d’var Torah to the standing room only congregation that summer shabbat morning in Syracuse, New York. Ironically, his parsha was Korach, which focuses on leadership…
Honorable Mensch-ion
Tallit
Judaism is a sensory religion. The tastes, the smells, the sounds, the sights, and the touches are what we carry with eternally. One of my formidable Jewish experiences is sitting next to my grandfather in the synagogue before I became a bar mitzvah while playing with the tzitzit, the fringes hanging from his tallit.
Light
Jews often speak about light in the darkest of times. We kindle the Chanukkiah in the darkest days of the year. Yet this Shabbat, one where there is the most light, we read about the lights of the menorah, lit each day. Seforno, the Italian commentator, teaches that each candle of the menorah has a specific role in the world, conduits of spirituality to the Jewish people. He further explains a lesson of musar, ethical teaching. The right side of the menorah represents eternal values, life of the future. The left side represents physical life here on earth. We need both sides functioning properly in order to live a purposeful life.
Shalom
Shalom. Hello, goodbye, and peace. While we focus most of our attention on peace, we must recognize that shalom can only come from the smaller actions that lead us to that point.
The Three Israels
Jewish tradition describes three Israels: the state, the land, and the people. Last week, as a rabbi leading a mission of North American Jews, I observed three different Israels: war-torn Israel, the living Israel, and an American perception of Israel that is far from reality.
Jewish Commencements
The Psalms writes, “I thought about my ways, and my feet brought me to your statutes.” The midrash expands that King David said each day, “I think about going to such and such a place, but my feet continue to bring me to synagogues and houses of study.” He recognized the lessons of Torah would carry him through his day. Our parsha begins with the instruction to toil in Torah and to walk in God’s ways. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that we read these words this week as schools conclude and we mark graduations of all levels. While we think of graduations as celebrating what was accomplished, in reality, they are called commencements, which are a beginning of what will be.
Writing a Torah
The Talmud tells us that Rabbi Akiva’s 12,000 pair of student died in a plague during the sefira, the counting of the Omer. It was on the 33rd day of the Omer that the plague ceased and the students could continue to learn Torah.
Remembering Our IDF Soldiers
I write to you from Jerusalem, where I just returned from Mt. Herzl, Israel’s military cemetery.
Recite Hallel on Yom Ha’atzmaut
Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day is a modern holiday, 76-years-old. We mark our biblical and rabbinic festivals by adding liturgy in our daily services. The Rabbis ask, “Should we recite Hallel, Psalms of praise on Yom Ha’atzmaut?”
The Scroll of the Holocaust
I recently took a look back at my Jewish upbringing and asked myself, “Who did you grow up around?”
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