T’tzavah for Tots: Light in your life
A guide to help adults learn how to engage young children in a discussion about this week’s Torah portion.
Va-eria for Tots: The Importance of Consequences
A guide to help adults learn how to engage young children in a discussion about this week’s Torah portion.
D'varim for Tots
Questions and ideas for parents to discuss Parashat D'varim with young children.
Eikev for Tots
At the end of those forty days and forty nights, the Eternal gave me the two tablets of stone, the Tablets of the Covenant.
-Deuteronomy 9:11
Ki Teitzei for Tots
A guide to help adults learn how to engage young children in a discussion about this week’s Torah portion.
When Our Hands Get Dirty
Leviticus, the third book of the Torah, is not the most compelling by a long shot. With only a couple of good stories (Nadab and Abihu in chapter 10, and the blasphemer in chapter 24), Leviticus is mostly about sacrifices, bodily secretions, and being a priest.
Noble and Difficult Texts
Years ago, I was invited to the annual General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America (fondly known as the G.A.) to co-teach a session on my choice of our tradition's most important biblical texts. I was paired with a Modern Orthodox educator.
Limping into Holiness
In December 2005, Stanley "Tookie" Williams, cofounder of the Crips, the violent Los Angeles street gang, was executed by lethal injection, paying the ultimate price for his violent past.
On the Holiness of Shmutz
A young man comes to a rabbi and says, "Rabbi, I would like to study Talmud with you."
"Very nice," says the rabbi. "May I ask what background you have in Talmud?"
"None," says the young man.
"I see," says the Rabbi. "Have you studied the Mishnah, which lies at its core?"
Haazinu for Tots
A guide to help adults learn how to engage young children in a discussion about this week’s Torah portion.