Blogs

There hasn’t always been a set Passover Seder. It didn’t spring up as a full blown ritual in one generation, and certainly not during the generations we were resident in the Land of Israel. At one time early on in the first century, Passover was a time of pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem and offering of the Paschal sacrifice, which the egg refers to on our modern seder plates. After the destruction of...Read more...

Last week’s Torah Portion contained the “Ten Utterances” spoken to Moses by God at Mount Sinai. This week’s portion is named “Laws” Mishpatim and delves into what the covenant that God enters into with Israel actually demands. It’s not ‘ten and done’! Chapters 21 through 23 of Exodus go into the nitty gritty of, in the words of The Women’s Torah Commentary “Rules for Life in a Covenant...Read more...

Our Torah portion this week sees the Israelites leaving Egypt and crossing the Red Sea – high drama! Our modern daily lives have been full of reports of terror and violence that leaves families bereft and, in some cases, breeds more violence. It is difficult to speak of higher values when so many suffer in the here and now. One of the places I draw inspiration from when the news brings me low is service...Read more...

This week’s Torah portion, Va’era (Ex. 6:2 – 9:9) has threats, plagues, suffering and a repetition of names for God that seem to represent different aspects of the Divine. God hardens Pharoah’s heart so that when Moses and Aaron ask that the Israelites be allowed to go to the wilderness to worship their God for three days he refuses. The first distinctive word of the first verse gives us the portion’s...Read more...