Shira Milgrom

Rabbi Shira Milgrom is a rabbi at Congregation Kol Ami and is part of a unique rabbinic partnership of two co-senior rabbis in White Plains, New York. She is the author of articles about Jewish spirituality, education, healing, and women in Judaism and is the editor of a unique siddur used now for two decades in settings across the continent. She is blessed to learn continually about loving from her husband, children, and grandchildren.

Lech L'cha

Covenanting

D'Var Torah By: Shira Milgrom

October 21, 2014

Parashah Overview Abram, Sarai, and Lot go to Canaan. (12:1-9) Famine takes them to Egypt, where Abram identifies Sarai as his sister in order to save his life. (12:10-20) Abram and Lot separate. Lot is taken captive, and Abram rescues him. (13:1-14:24) Abram has a son, Ishmael, with his Egyptian...

Nitzavim

Affirming the Covenant

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.

September 8, 2014

Every Jew Is Part of the Covenant In his final appeal to the people of Israel, Moses reminds them that the covenant they are establishing with God will be valid for eternity. All Jews, he emphasizes, even those who are not born as yet, will be drawn into this pact...

Sukkot

Sukkot: The Season of Our Joy

D'Var Torah By: Shira Milgrom

September 2, 2014

The Torah reading for the Shabbat of Sukkot (Exodus 33:12–34:26) includes the reconciliation between God and Moses following the Golden Calf, the inscription of the second set of the Ten Commandments, and the verbal covenant that accompanies this second giving. Two brief sections have direct connections to the holiday of...

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur: It Is Not in the Heavens

D'Var Torah By: Shira Milgrom

September 2, 2014

Central to the "Torah"—my father, Jacob Milgrom, z"l, taught me and countless others—was the revolution of priestly theology. In the priestly view, sin was not a separate demonic force; rather, sin was/is of human volition—human beings bring sin and goodness both into the world. It is helpful to think about...

Vayeilech

Expanding the Covenant

D'Var Torah By: Shira Milgrom

August 27, 2014

At the edge of the Promised Land, Moses convenes his people one last time, to draw them into the covenant between them and their God. This great gathering of the masses evokes the last great gathering, forty years earlier, when the people of Israel were encamped at the foot of...