By Dr. Halina Postek July 22, 2016/16 Tammuz 5776 – This week’s Torah portion Balak is the only parasha in the entire Torah in which the conveyed events are made known to us not because the Israelites participated in them (they were the ones who witnessed all the other events described in the Torah). Rather, we […]
Korach: Problems with Democracy
By Dr Halina Postek July 8th, 2016/2nd Tamuz 5776 A year has passed since the Israelites left Egypt. That is enough time to forget the bitterness of slavery, humiliation and persecution. This period of time was long enough for the process of the idealization of the past to begin. Now Egypt seems like a land […]
Parshat Bamidbar
By Rabbi Yoel Kahn, PhD, DD, Congregation Beth El, Berkeley, CA June 11, 2016 This week’s Torah portion begins with precision in time and vagueness in geography. We begin reading this week from the fourth book of the Torah, parshat Bamidbar: The Eternal spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, […]
Emor
By Rabbi Alan Iser 20 May 2016/ 12 Iyar 5776 – Sometimes, the most significant concepts in Judaism are hidden in seemingly insignificant passages in the Torah. In this week’s Torah portion, Emor, at the end of a section dealing with the characteristics of which animals are acceptable for sacrifices, we learn of two very […]
Behar
By Rabbi Alan Iser 27 May 2016/19 Iyar 5776 – Warsaw has had some illustrious rabbis in its rich Jewish history. This evening, I would like to introduce you to an extraordinary rabbi who lived in the Warsaw Jewish community during its darkest hour, Rabbi Kalonymous Kalman Shapira. He was the last Chassidic rebbe alive […]