The Hidden Gift of Charity

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 22, 2022 | Community, Kindness and Compassion, Light Unto the Nations, Re’eih, Tests and Trials

Usually, it is only the significant events that we remember decades later. But I still remember every detail of what happened 23 years ago. I was on my way home from reserve duty and anxious to get home. It was evening and I had missed dinner. I had about half an hour...

The Obligation to Pay Wages On Time

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...

Agricultural Gifts for the Poor

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 2, 2022 | Kedoshim

Chapter 19 of Leviticus introduces agricultural-based charity: When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit...

Does Being the Poor Man’s Sacrifice Make the Meal Offering Less Desirable?

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 8, 2022 | God, Temple, Vayikra

The meal offering was characteristically brought by the poor as it was less expensive than a meat offering. The offering consisted chiefly of fine flour, olive oil and frankincense. The grain could either be raw and mixed with oil, or mixed with oil and cooked into...

Why We Read About the Silver Half-Shekel Before the Month of Adar

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 23, 2022 | Adar, Covenant, Ki Tisa, Purim, Temple

Shabbat Shekalim is the last Shabbat preceding the beginning of the Hebrew month of Adar*, or the 1st of Adar itself if the month begins on Shabbat. In synagogues, the Torah portion describing the bringing of the silver half-shekel is read (Exodus 30:11-16) in...