WUPJ Library

by Rabbi Stanley M. Davids, Immediate past-president of ARZA , and Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Emanu-El of Greater Atlanta, US. Counting should be a very straightforward kind of thing. You send out an e-vite to a child’s party, and each of the recipients can not only indicate with a key stroke whether s/he will be attending, […]

by Rabbi Pauline Bebe, rabbi of Communaute Juive Liberale , Paris, France Le désert – le désert est-ce la solitude de ces moments d’entre-deux, entre Pessah et shavouoth ? The desert: the desert, is it the solitude of those moments in between: between Passover and Shavuot ? Un peu comme un montagnard qui marche d’un pic […]

by Rabbi Fred Morgan, Senior Rabbi, Temple Beth Israel , Melbourne, Australia For someone coming from Britain, Australia seems like an empty land, a wilderness. The great bulk of the Australian population lives within 100 kilometers of the coast, and another 100 kilometers inland  in many places brings you to the edge of the outback, […]

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Edwin Goldberg, Senior Rabbi of Temple Sholom of Chicago , Illinois, USA We are Defined by Our Choices “A seeker after truth came to a sage for guidance. ‘Tell me please, wise one, how did you become holy?’ ‘Two words.’ ‘And what are they, please?’ ‘Right choices.’ ‘And how does one […]

Recent Issues It would have been oh so easy to write this D’var Torah as the Rabbi of a Synagogue celebrating its 50th anniversary year, if as often occurs, the portions of B’har and B’chukotai were combined on one Shabbat; B’har containing the biblical account of the Jubilee Year! Alas, my lot is B’chukotai complete […]

by Rabbi Rich Kirschen, Director of NFTY in Israel Like most people if you just look at the Pshat – the SIMPLE way of looking at the Torah – the Torah portion this week,  B’Chukotai really is not all that inspiring. That is of course why we also have the Remez , which is the […]

We don’t often turn to the Torah for a lesson in economics, but this week’s portion Parashat Behar is the basis for a number of teachings related to the basic economic issues of supply and demand, and the special conditions that apply to the sale of real estate.

The structure of the World Union for Progressive Judaism is a response to our recognition that as Jews, we share a common destiny and should be conscious of our responsibility to care for one another. If one of us in trouble, we must all join together to repair the hole.

No portion in our Torah discuss Judaism on a planetary scale more clearly than Behar-Bechukotai. The commandment of the sabbatical year makes clear that all the earth, not just that of the Land of Israel, belongs to God and is only on loan to us.

This week’s Haftorah tells the amazing story of when the Babylonian army is about to destroy Jerusalem, it looks like the people are about to be exiled; and Jeremiah’s cousin, Hanamel, asks the prophet to redeem his portion of land in the Jerusalem suburb of Anatot. Real-estate is plummeting but Hanamel acts on one of the most important Jewish values: understanding that ”it’s not over until it’s over and even then…. it isn’t over.”

One of the most frequently quoted Biblical texts, especially beloved to Americans going all the way back to the period of their independence as a nation, is the phrase: “And you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land”. These formidable words were inscribed on the Liberty Bell, that icon of American history, which was hung in Philadelphia’s Assembly Hall on March 10, 1753. Yet, how many of us, Jew and Gentile alike, can actually tell you the biblical source for that quotation?

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Micah Streiffer , Rabbi of Temple Kol Ami , Thornhill, Ontario, Canada Sacred Moments The old joke says that every Jewish holiday can be summed up in three short sentences: They tried to destroy us. They failed. Let’s eat. It’s not true, of course. Our festivals are incredibly nuanced and rich […]