WUPJ Library

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Michel Schlesinger is the Rabbi of Congregacao Israelita Paulista (CIP) in Sao Paulo and the representative of the Brazilian Jewish Confederation (CONIB) for interreligious dialogue. The sin of the golden calf is committed in this week’s parasha , Ki Tisa. Ironically, in the same portion of the Torah where this artistic […]

By Rabbi Ruven Bar Ephraim, Or Chadasch Congregation, Zurich, Switzerland, and Rabbinic Advisor to the EUPJ One comes into the world, usually with two parents, perhaps siblings, aunts, uncles, Grandparents and other relatives. The family situation changes when you have a spouse. He / she brings her / his family clan into the marriage. As […]

by Rabbi Lawrence A. Englander, Rabbi of Solel Congregation , Mississauga, Ontario Canada, and President-Elect of Arzenu My new understanding of this week’s Parasha began with a visit to the British Museum in London. There, in the Assyrian gallery, I saw the huge bronze Nimrud gates. Moulded onto these gates were two fierce creatures ( click […]

by Rabbi Mark H. Levin , DHL, Congregation Beth Torah, Overland Park , KS Many people would say, as Rabbi Jacob Milgrom demonstrates in his JPS Commentary to The Book of Numbers, that this is the most important Torah portion. Parts of it are read four times in the annual Torah reading cycle: this week’s […]

This week’s Parasha, Ki Tisa, illustrates, among other lessons, how ordinary, mundane administrative matters of life – like the taking of a census and fiscal upkeep of a community – interface with grand and dramatic episodes of life: the revelation of cosmic truths translated into human terms.

by Rabbi Dr. Shaul (Paul) R Feinberg, Associate Dean Emeritus, Hebrew Union College , Jerusalem This week’s Parasha opens with an administrative injunction: a call for a census of males of military age. For a number of reasons the census was to be carried out by counting  a one-half shekel contribution to the Temple. As […]

By Rabbi Gabor Lengyel 4 March 2010 / 18 Adar 5770 וידבר יהוה אל משה לאמור: כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל לפקדיהם ונתנו  איש כפר נפשו ליהוה (Exodus 30: 11-12) “The Eternal One spoke to Moses, saying: When you take a census of the Israelite men according to their army enrollment, each shall pay […]

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Dr. Walter Rothschild, Rabbi of congregation ‘ Or Chadasch ‘ in Vienna, Austria. A while ago we suffered a near catastrophe at home; my daughter was heating some oil on the stove, preparing to fry something, when the oil caught fire. Flames shot up from the pan and the kitchen filled […]

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Dr. Walter Rothschild, Rabbi of ‘ Or Chadasch ‘ Liberal Jewish Community, Vienna Remembering the Future ” Remember what they did to You! Remember what they did to Us !” In Deuteronomy 25:17 to 19 Moses is of course addressing the adult children of those who left Egypt and who were […]

by Rabbi Rich Kirschen, Director of Israel Programs, Union for Reform Judaism So what do we have here in this week’s Torah Portion of Tetzaveh? Unfortunately we have a very long and not very interesting description of the High Priest and the clothes he is about to wear before ordination. We have instructions for building the […]

My brother-in-law has many talents. In addition to playing the banjo, he’s a builder and carpenter; attorney specializing in environmental issues; and all around good guy. But his passion is olive farming. This year, with the help of volunteers from around the world as well as extended friends and family from our home at Kibbutz Gezer, he harvested two tons of olives. In many ways he embodies A.D. Gordon’s “Religion of Labor” and the philosophy of Labor Zionism.

by Rabbi Danny Burkeman, The Community Synagogue , Port Washington, NY When I was 22 years old I applied for a job as a movement worker at RSY-Netzer. This was a one-year position for graduates of the youth movement who were just completing university. It was a job for which there was no uniform, and […]