The Hidden Blessing

This past week’s Torah portion was Balak. I don’t normally dedicate my d’var to a person but one year ago y I was in Texas with Noah Shapira at his Bar Mitzvah on July 4th and this was his portion. It was an extraordinary celebration what with all the fireworks and I can’t believe a…
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What’s In A Word?

This past week we had another double portion, Achrei Mot-Kedoshim. This comes right after the death of Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu. Aaron had two other sons, Elezar and Itamar, but we will talk about them some other time. Today I am going to focus on what happened right after these deaths. It is a…
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Of The Heart

This past week we had a double Torah portion of Tazria-Metzorah. I just want to focus on a single verse from the first portion, Leviticus 12:3. This might seem an “interesting” verse to focus on, it is the verse dealing with circumcision: on the eighth day the flesh shall be circumcised. I have talked about…
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Walk This Way?

This week’s Torah portion is actually two, vayakhel and pikudei. I am going to focus this week on the first. We are all familiar with the story of the stone tablets that Moses smashed when he realized that the people were involved in the sin of the golden calf. What is interesting is that the…
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What Is Precious?

This week’s Torah portion is Terumah. This week I am in a temporary place, a hotel with my children for their basketball playoffs. Both of my children still living at home made it to the finals and it is very exciting. So just as I am in a temporary place, this week is all about…
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What’s It Worth?

  This week’s Torah portion is Mishpatim and it can be a bit confusing if you didn’t grow up in a Jewish context or if you don’t know about Jewish tradition. It can even seem a bit barbaric because this is the portion in which we are introduced to the concept of an eye for…
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