Emor: Words for the Next Generation
When the Rabbis divided the Torah into its 54 parashiyot (portions), they generally arranged for each portion to begin with a unique or otherwise significant word that would in some way summarize major themes of the entire section.
Honor Is Not Enough
Focal Point
You shall each revere your mother and your father, and keep My sabbaths: I the Eternal am your God. (Leviticus 19:3)
D'var Torah
Finding Holiness at the Zoo
If you've ever looked directly at the light emanating from a prism, you know that it is nearly blinding.
Being Holy - and Staying Alive
Acharei Mot, the first of this week's two parashiyot, begins on an unsettling note—a reminder of the death of Aaron's sons and the suggestion that such tragedies might occur again unless the priests take specified steps to prevent them
Mourning and Meaning
We read in this week's Torah portion about the death of Aaron's two eldest sons, Nadab and Abihu.
Bringing Light to Torah
T'tzaveh was my bat mitzvah portion . . . 50 years ago. It's hard to believe that it's been that long, and that I'm old enough to say things like that. I am told that mine was the first bat mitzvah ceremony at K.A.M.
Facing Our Faults on the Other Side of the River
The stories in Genesis are heavy with human experience; they turn on every conceivable emotion, and life and relationship challenge. In this way, Torah in general, and the Book of Genesis in particular, provide a spiritual mirror that reflects back to us our best, and sometimes most disappointing selves. ...In Jacob, who, in this week’s Torah portion, Vayishlach, wrestled with the night messenger, we see ourselves struggling with great challenges that bring pain, but from which we might extract blessing.
Nakedness and Vulnerability
In Leviticus 18:3, in Acharei Mot, it is written, "You shall not copy the practices of the land of Egypt where you dwelt, or of the land of Canaan to which I am taking you."
What the Records Reveal
In Parashat P'kudei, the last section of the Book of Exodus, there is a rather tedious repetition of the inventory of all the equipment used in the building and decorating of the Tabernacle, the place of worship for the Israelites during their sojourn in the wilderness after they left Eg