The COVID-19 pandemic was — and remains — a transformative experience, much like the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness. …

Oh America, where the guns roam free, blood stained streets full of weeping parents and neighbors. Where Jeremiah’s prophetic tears for innocent lives cruelly torn from this world stream eternally down our cheeks, as weapons of death turn infinite profits plowshares turned into mass-produced swords and there is no comfort, only piercing grief…

The Torah portions of Acharei Mot (“After the Deaths of”), Kedoshim (“Holiness”), and Emor (“Say”) provide a valuable lesson on the importance of expressing love and respect to others without delay. …

The day after Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, is a moment for reflection and renewal, a time to celebrate the miracle of Israel’s founding and to recommit to the work of its birth. Much remains to be done in pursuit of a more perfect Jewish homeland, envisioned by its founders…

The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was a momentous event, a miracle, the fulfillment of a two-thousand year dream of a displaced people. During our years of dispersion, we survived physical persecution, spiritual assault, even genocide. Despite this, in the face of all that history has thrown…

On Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, we call to mind our children, our sisters, our brothers, who are no more. 24,213 souls have died in service to the founding and protection of the State of Israel. 4,255 souls were murdered in terror attacks. The costs of Jewish freedom have been…

The double Torah portion of Tazria/Metzora details the laws of purity and impurity as they relate to childbirth, tzara’at (a skin affliction), and bodily emissions. Metzora opens with the purification process for the metzora, a person afflicted with tzara’at. The purification process involves a seven-day period of isolation, followed by…

The Torah portions Tazria and Metzora enumerate many rules regarding ritual fitness surrounding such bodily experiences as skin ailments and childbirth. The rules for the ‘metzora’, a person afflicted by a spiritual skin disease (‘tzara’at,’ consistently mistranslated as leprosy) teach that if a person suspects that they have tzara’at, the…

The double-portion of Vayakhel and Pekudei describes in intricate detail the clothing of the High Priest, Aaron. His ritual attire was regal, with flowing fabrics and precious stones. Even the hem of the priestly robe was decorated with alternating pomegranates and bells (Ex. 39:25–26). The hem-bells served many purposes. For…