by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 8, 2022 | Bamidbar, Community, Humility, Leadership
People are more polarized today than ever before with politics dividing families and shattering communities. The Bible established a system of leadership through service that may be the key to healing our broken polarized politics. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who served as...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 31, 2022 | Bamidbar, Community, God, Israel
As its name implies, the Book of Numbers opens with a census, counting the men of Israel for the purposes of war, and then describes how they camped in the desert. Very much like an army camp, the tribes were arranged in four groups of three tribes each. At the center...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 22, 2022 | Bechukotai, Community, Covenant, Faith, God, Temple
Agriculture in Israel is a joint venture in which God partners with the farmers. God promises that if the Jews are faithful to the Torah and keep the commandments, He will ensure that the rain will fall in its proper season and the land will yield its bounty. And just...
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 4, 2022 | Community, God, Justice, Kedoshim, Kindness and Compassion
Among the many mitzvot (commandments) listed in the Torah portion of Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:1-20:27) is an incongruous commandment telling the Jews to pay wages on time: The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until morning. Leviticus 19:13 Though paying...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 11, 2022 | Bo, Community, Gratitude, Passover
The Haggadah is the guidebook for the Passover seder. Haggadah literally means ‘the telling’ and, as its name implies, the main point of the evening is to tell the story of how God took the Jews out of Egypt through wonders and miracles. Seder simply means ‘order’. ...