WUPJ Library

by Rabbi Ann B. Folb, Arlington, VA Ha’azinu , “pay attention,” “give ear”, and so begins the Torah portion which is the last to be assigned for Shabbat morning during our liturgical year. We have come almost full circle in our readings. Chapters 33 and 34 are read on Simchat Torah morning. Moses has been […]

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Bennett F. Miller, Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple , New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA Change is Certain; Don’t take surveys: and Don’t be dismayed! Ah! The parashah between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur! In the midst of the time of the year when we are considering “who will live and who will […]

Recent Issues By Rabbi Gary A. Glickstein, Temple Beth Sholom , USA Will you sing about me when I’m gone The rapper Kendrick Lamar recorded a song he wrote with Marilyn and Alan Bergman and Quincy Jones. The words Lamar raps relate mostly to a world you and I only read about in the news […]

By Rabbi Y. Lindsey bat Joseph, Executive Director, Sol Mark Centre for Jewish Excellence Vayeilech is the shortest sidrah in the Torah. Covering just one chapter in Deuteronomy, in the annual reading cycle it is often paired with the preceding sidrah Nitzavim from which many Reform synagogues read on Yom Kippur morning. Vayeilech opens with […]

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Phil Cohen Ph.D, Rabbi of Temple Israel , West Lafayette, Indiana, USA Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem lifnei Adonai Eloheichem (Deuteronomy 29:9)/ Thus begins this week’s sidrah . All of you, from all levels of society, stand here today at the river’s edge in the presence of God. All of you have […]

Jews of all denominations tend to talk about ourselves in collective terms: ‘Progressive Jews’; ‘Liberal Jews’; ‘Reform Jews’; ‘Reconstructionist Jews’; ‘Orthodox Jews’; ‘Chassidic Jews’; ‘Secular Jews’; ‘Cultural Jews’; ‘Socialist Jews’; ‘Radical Jews’ … Some of these terms connect with actual organisational structures – like the ‘World Union for Progressive Judaism’. Meanwhile, ‘Chassidic Jews’, for example, […]

There are parts of the Torah that catch our eye just because of the way they are inscribed on the scroll itself. Key letters are adorned with ‘crowns’, sometimes extra dots appear above words and in some cases letters are enlarged. In this week’s Torah portion, Nitzavim-Vayeilech, there are unusual dots over the words lanu […]

By Rabbi Mark H. Levin, DHL, Congregation Beth Torah, Overland Park, Kansas Atem Nitzavim is read twice in the annual Torah reading cycle in Reform congregations:  in its proper place in the order of weekly portions and again, in part, on Yom Kippur morning. The parashah opens with the famous spiritual/historical promise that all Israel […]

by Rabbi Grisha Abramovich, Rabbi of the Religious Union for Progressive Judaism in the Republic of Belarus Perhaps one of the tasks of our weekly Parasha – Nitzavim-Vayelech – is to show the accessibility of the Torah. At the beginning of the chapter we read that everyone, including Jews of different classes and occupations, women and […]

by Ra bbi Dr. Walter Rothschild; Landesrabbiner for Schleswig-Holstein , Germany ; Rabbi of Or Chadasch , Vienna , Austria .

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Peter Knobel, Rabbi Emeritus of Beth Emet the Free Synagogue, Evanston, Illinois, USA The Blessing and the Curse Ki Tavo is a very challenging Torah portion. Theologically it conditions blessing and curses to the faithful observance of the Divine commands. The fate of the people is directly related to their behavior. […]

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Fred Morgan AM, Emeritus Rabbi, Temple Beth Israel , Melbourne, Australia The portion Ki Tavo concludes Moses’ discourse to the people Israel with a set of blessings and curses, the consequences of their actions in following or rejecting God’s commands. Jewish tradition has never felt comfortable with these tokhachot , or […]