by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 12, 2022 | Community, Emor, God, Justice, Kindness and Compassion, Redemption
Leviticus (chapter 24) relates the story of a fight between an Israelite man and a half-Israelite man. The half-Israelite man was the son of Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, from the tribe of Dan, and his father was an Egyptian. In the course of the fight, the...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 12, 2022 | Emor, Justice, Repentance
Leviticus seems to tell the Children of Israel that when someone hurts his fellow he should be punished in kind. Understood literally, the verses seem to say that we must implement reciprocal justice; paying another back measure for measure for the harm he inflicts on...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 11, 2022 | Emor, Marriage and Relationships, Purity, Temple
Until the Exodus from Egypt, the patriarchs had an individual relationship with God, bringing sacrifices wherever and whenever they felt the calling. But when God brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt, what had been a clan, a loose conglomeration of individuals,...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 10, 2022 | Antisemitism, Israel, Zechariah
In June 2004, the Israeli Knesset instituted Herzl Day to be observed on the 10th of Iyar, Theodor Herzl’s birthday. On this day, a state memorial service is held on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem and at IDF camps and schools. Time is devoted to learning about the...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 9, 2022 | Emor, Kindness and Compassion
The Torah contains many commandments pertaining to eating animals; which animals are permitted and how to slaughter them. In the context of verses pertaining to Temple offerings, the Torah adds the prohibition against slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the...