Audrey R. Korotkin

Chances are that many of us are familiar only with the section of Ecclesiastes that begins "To everything there is a season," only because we've heard it at a funeral or – thanks to the late Pete Seeger – at a hootenanny. But The Book of Ecclesiastes, known in Hebrew

When I am preparing a family for the funeral of a loved one, we meet privately to recite the phrase Baruch Dayan HaEmet, "Blessed is the True Judge," as we put a tear in the black k'riah ribbons of mourning. We acknowledge that saying the words and hearing the sound

The Chasidic tradition brings us the following story: "One day Rabbi Ber was walking with some of his Chasidim when he saw a little girl standing behind a wall and crying. 'Why are you crying, little girl?' he asked. 'I was playing hide-and-seek with my friends,' said the little girl

In Parashat Nitzavim (Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20), Moses is coming to the end of his oration, the end of his leadership, and the end of his life. His last sermon is brief, as he calls the people to attention; reminds them not to follow the idolatrous ways of the Canaanites among whom

A few weeks ago, in studying Parashat R'eih, I noted that the Torah gives us a great gift of joy—a command to celebrate with one's entire household—tucked into a long passage replete with warnings of failures and curses literally shouted from the mountaintops. This week, in Parashat Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy