Weekly Shabbat Message

>Shabbat Mas’ei 5771

Until this week, I wasn’t familiar with the word “prolix,” an adjective meaning “tediously lengthy.” (I was familiar with the concept; just not the word.) Then I stumbled on it twice in one day. Once was while reading about the …

>Shabbat Korah 5771

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When Mayor Bloomberg’s mother, Charlotte Rubens Bloomberg, died earlier this week, we read how little her son’s immense wealth and fame changed her personality and values. She was happy to remain in her modest house in Medford, MA. When he

>Shabbat Shelah-Lekha 5771

“I’d like to use my lifeline, Regis.” With these words, a contestant on the hit TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire can phone a friend, ask the audience, or narrow the choices from four to two and …

>Shabbat Beha’alotekha 5771

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Chronology seems to be less important to the Torah than it is to us. While we often take great pains to establish the sequence of particular events, the Torah’s narratives are sometimes arranged out of chronological order. This non-linear style

>Shabbat Naso 5771

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We sometimes feel a tremendous weight on our shoulders. What is it that we are feeling? The sons of Kehat, Levi’s grandchildren, had enough already on their shoulders, so Moshe didn’t make them schlep anything more to the Mishkan Dedication

>Shabbat Bemidbar 5771

There is no doubt that we are all products of our environment. But while last week, my reference to the environment was in ecological terms, this time I’d like us to consider “the ‘hood”–where we grew up, and where we …

>Shabbat Behukotai 5771

Last week, our Torah portion emphasized the mitzvah of Shemittah, the sabbatical year of rest for the land. In our look inside this commandment during services last Shabbat morning, we noted that the following week’s parshah, Behukotai, mentions the threat …