Evan Moffic

A Road Map

D'Var Torah By: Dr. Carol Ochs

Hardly a day goes by that we don't see, hear, or read about the Ten Commandments. Actually, we have grown so accustomed to their being tossed about on the Internet, on television, in the newspaper, or in our places of worship that when we speak of them they no longer

A Story of Hope

D'Var Torah By: Evan Moffic

Without giving anything away, I can say publicly that Dan Brown's long-awaited sequel to The Da Vinci Code, which is called The Lost Symbol (New York, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2009) , ends with a nechamta, a "note of comfort." Despite the trials and betrayals it depicts, the book gives

We Are What We Remember

D'Var Torah By: Evan Moffic

One of our Reform liturgy's (and Rabbi Jack Riemer's) most beautiful poems begins with the words, "In the rising of the sun and in its going down, we remember them. In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter, we remember them." Continuing, we read "When we

Resolving to Stop Rationalizing

D'Var Torah By: Evan Moffic

As we approach the secular New Year, we may be contemplating resolutions and ways of acting differently in the coming year. Judging from anecdotes from family and friends, I would say that gym memberships climb rapidly in January and February, only to diminish over the following months. Part of the

Hidden in Plain Sight

D'Var Torah By: Evan Moffic

Several of our commentaries have focused on the power of words. In the Torah, words are a means of creation and revelation; of producing the world, as in Genesis 1-3; and of revealing truths about humanity. Occasionally, a word that recurs in a narrative can hint at an underlying lesson