by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 7, 2022 | Temple
What is the power of a blessing? Can I really improve the lives of the people I love by blessing them? Though prayer and blessings are critically important to both Judaism and Christianity, there are surprisingly few formal prayers recorded in the Bible. In this...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 6, 2022 | Naso
The Book of Numbers (Chapter 5:11-31) describes the ritual of bitter water, given to a woman who acts in a way that causes her to be suspected of adultery. A woman is forced to drink the waters if she was warned by her husband regarding her relations with another...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 3, 2022 | Amos, Holiness, Naso, Purity, Temple
The Book of Numbers describes the vow of the Nazir (Nazirite). The Nazir is not allowed to drink wine, cut his hair, or come into close contact with the dead. The meaning of the Hebrew word nazir is a bit ambiguous. It literally means ‘to separate’. Rashi explains...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 2, 2022 | Counting the Omer, Emor, Shavuot (Pentecost)
Shavuot is an annual Jewish holiday, one of the three Biblically mandated pilgrimage festivals when, in Temple times, Jews ascended to Jerusalem. It is observed after the Jews complete a seven-week count beginning on the second day of Passover: You must count until...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 2, 2022 | Revelation and Prophecy, Shavuot (Pentecost)
On June 15, 1967, Rabbi Norman Lamm delivered a lecture at The Jewish Center on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It was the second day of the festival of Shavuot and five days after the Six-Day war had ended. In his passionate speech, the rabbi compared the Israeli...
