by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 20, 2022 | Community, Covenant, Kindness and Compassion, Parenting, Pinchas
My children are growing up. Long gone are the hectic mornings of breakfast cereal and desperately packing school lunches. My older son, now grown and living on his own, has inherited the habit of drinking a big cup of coffee (or two) before tackling his day. Though he...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 25, 2022 | Bechukotai, Chosen Nation, Covenant, God, Holiness, Israel, Kindness and Compassion, Repentance
There are two passages in the Torah that contain a short list of promised blessings should the Children of Israel adhere to the commandments, and a longer list of curses should they not. The first is found in Leviticus chapter 26 and the second is in Deuteronomy 28....
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 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...
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 16, 2022 | Isaiah, Israel, Kindness and Compassion, Light Unto the Nations
It was only three weeks ago that Russia invaded Ukraine, sparking a massive humanitarian crisis in the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. Even before the invasion, as news spread that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was coming soon, Israel365...
