Rabbi Melanie Aron

Rabbi Melanie Aron is the senior rabbi at Congregation Shir Hadash in Los Gatos, CA. She has served on the URJ Board of Trustees and as chair of the URJ Committee on Adult Jewish Learning, and is involved in interfaith activities in her community.

Torrah and Kippah
Pinchas

The Politics of Just Protest

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, PhD
This is one of a few select parashiyot coveted by bat mitzvah girls, by adult b'not mitzvah , and by all who seek opportunities to learn more about the role of women in Torah. Parashat Pinchas introduces Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, who share the distinction of being the
Torrah and Kippah
B'midbar

B'midbar or Numbers?

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Melanie Aron
Writing about the Book of Numbers, Arnie Eisen hears the text proclaim, "Welcome to the real world…. It is not a sanctuary." He contrasts the orderly world of Leviticus with the chaos of B'midbar, a place without landmarks, whose story is recounted in a book that also seems to lack
Torrah and Kippah
Vayeilech

Every Dot Is Rich in Meaning

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Melanie Aron
There are sections of the Torah that call out for our attention just from the way they are written in the sefer Torah, the Torah scroll, itself. The most famous are the enlarged letter bet of the first word of the Torah, B’reishit, “In the beginning,” and the two enlarged
Torrah and Kippah
Nitzavim

Every Dot Is Rich in Meaning

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Melanie Aron
There are sections of the Torah that call out for our attention just from the way they are written in the sefer Torah, the Torah scroll, itself. The most famous are the enlarged letter bet of the first word of the Torah, B’reishit, “In the beginning,” and the two enlarged
Torrah and Kippah
Ki Teitzei

Respecting the Criminal

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Melanie Aron
Maybe it’s the images of Abu Ghraib that remain in my mind’s eye, or the current failures of our prison system, but this year in reading the seventy plus laws of Parashat Ki Teitzei what struck me was the section on corporal punishment, Deuteronomy Chapter 25:1–3. “When there is a