When “I’m Sorry” Just Isn’t Good Enough

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 24, 2022 | Israel, Repentance, Shelach

We’ve all done it; despite all of our good intentions, we make a bad mistake and we hurt someone we love. Full of regret, we apologize. But sometimes, apologies aren’t enough. When a borrowed car is returned with a bent fender, a trip to the auto-repair shop...

Why American Jews are not Going Home to Israel

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 21, 2022 | Israel, Shelach

If one night, while watching television, a booming voice came down from heaven, identified itself as God, and told you to pick up and move, would you do it? Would you still hesitate if that voice performed astounding miracles, guided you through dangers, and sustained...

Waving the Flag During the Exodus and in Modern Israel

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...

The Clouds of Glory: Living in God’s Shelter

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 2, 2022 | God, Hebrew Language, Pekudei, Temple

After the Tabernacle is fully assembled, God descends upon it in a cloud of glory: The cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Presence of Hashem filled the Mishkan. Exodus 40:34 The Hebrew word for ‘glory,’ kavod (כָּבוֹד), is perhaps more precisely translated as...

The Artist Behind the Construction of the Tabernacle

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 9, 2022 | God, Ki Tisa, Temple

Even though no man ever came as close to God as Moses, when it came time to construct the Tabernacle, God assigned the task to Bezalel (meaning “in the shadow [i.e. the protection] of God”) the son of Uri and grandson of Hur, from the tribe of Judah. Caleb...