Rosh Chodesh Elul
Parashat R'eih concludes with details concerning our sacred calendar (Deuteronomy 16). While other books tell of how to keep the holy days, here we see the reasons why. A rationale is given to the timing and rituals of our holy days.
Eco-Kosher's Biblical Roots
For almost twenty-five years, since his article, "Toward an Ethical Kashrut," was published with Rebecca Alpert in the journal Reconstructionist in the spring of 1987,1 Rabbi Arthur Waskow has been talking about standards of kashrut that extend beyond the traditional ritual re
“Fear Not”
Moses prepares his people for the battle awaiting them on the other side of the Jordan River, saying: "When you [an Israelite warrior] take the field against your enemies, and see horses and chariots-forces larger than yours-(lo tira) have no fear of them, for the Eternal your God, who b
Putting Elul to Work
Four hundred years of slavery in Egypt, forty years of wandering in the desert: imagine how the legends of the Land of Israel that must have been told.
Transgressions Transformed
In the Bible, much of the legislation transmitted by God to Israel is reassuringly unambiguous. When he seeks to establish God's rules, Moses frequently defines distinct categories into which things are sorted; some are permitted and others are forbidden.
To Influence and To Be Shaped by Another’s Influence
Tolstoy begins Anna Karenina with the following two assertions: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Perhaps this explains why for every one blessing listed in this week's parashah, there are five frightful curses.
Living between Mountains
I live in Los Gatos, California which is on the edge of the Santa Clara Valley.
Receiving in Order to Give
"You stand this day, all of you, before the Eternal your God ... to enter into the covenant of the Eternal your God ..." (Deuteronomy 29:9-11). Parashat Nitzavim is a retelling of the exchange of giving and receiving that took place at Mount Sinai.
Nitzavim: The Mitzvah of Choosing
This week's Torah portion, Nitzavim, or large sections of it, are well-known in Reform congregations. On Yom Kippur morning, we read Deuteronomy 29:9-14 and 30:11-20, the opening and concluding paragraphs of Nitzavim.