WUPJ Library

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Paul Jacobson, Emanuel Synagogue , Sydney, Australia A number of years ago, I enjoyed a conversation with a rabbinic colleague en route to Ben Gurion Airport from Jerusalem. My colleague had just celebrated the birth of her daughter and was talking about the challenge of managing her child’s needs, all of […]

By: Rabbi Joel Oseran , Vice President, International Development, World Union for Progressive Judaism , Jerusalem Our weekly Torah portion, Va’Era,  (Exodus 6:2 – 9:35) introduces the classic biblical account of the 10 plagues, pitting the God of the Hebrews (using the letters Yod, Heh, Vav, Hey or “Adonai” as we pronounce the letters) against Pharaoh […]

By: Rabbi Dr. Walter Rothschild, Landesrabbiner of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany When God introduces ‘Himself’ to Moses he makes a remarkable statement: “I am the God who appeared already to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as ‘El Shaddai’, but I was not known to them by my name YHVH.” This raises the obvious question: Why not? I won’t press […]

By: Rabbi Burt E. Schuman, Beit Warszawa Foundation, Warsaw Poland. The Courage to Struggle Imagine that you have been chosen to lead a struggle for the freedom and self-determination of your people against a seemingly all-powerful and invincible foe.  Like the leaders of the great human rights struggles of the last century, you have nothing […]

We are starting the second book of the Torah with Parashat Shemot, the Exodus. The book which we have just read, Bereshit, Genesis, besides the creation of the world, tells the story of a family – the family of the patriarchs. The first book of the Torah begins with the account of a single man and a single woman, and ends with several chapters about Abraham, Sarah and all of their descendants and aggregates. Something different happens in Shemot.

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Neal Borovitz, Rabbi Emeritus Temple Avodat Shalom , River Edge, New Jersey, USA What is in a name? Names both distinguish us from each other and also can denote our relationships one to the other. This week we begin the reading of the Book of Exodus, which is called in Hebrew, […]

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Goldie Milgram , award-winning author and innovator in the field of Jewish Spiritual Education Part of this week’s Torah portion Shemot (Exodus 1-2:10) reads like a screenplay writer’s first draft of a script – in Chapter 2 verses 1-9, not even one character has a name. Take a look at the […]

By: Rabbi Pauline Bebe, rabbi of Communaute Juive Liberalee Please click here for this commentary in French If the book of Shemoth was presented to a publisher today, it would probably be suggested to the author that starting off with a list of names as the opener to a book, might leave a lot to be […]

By: Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor, Vice President, Philanthropy, World Union for Progressive Judaism “Seeing Holiness” In 1938, one of my favorite poets, William Butler Yeats, was presented with a gift. The gift was a sculpture of three Chinese monks carved out of deep-blue lapis lazuli stone. Contemplating the sculpture at length, he composed his poem, […]

By: Rabbi Rebecca Lillian, Lund University , Lund, Sweden and Egalitarian Synagogue of Malmo, Malmo, Sweden What is in a Name? This week’s parasha, like the Second Book of Moses (Exodus) that it opens, is known as “ shemot ,” meaning “names.” Indeed, names play a major role throughout this very rich portion, from the […]

By: Rabbi Dr John Levi, Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth Israel , Victoria, Australia The story of Joseph is over. His descendents have brought his embalmed body ‘home’. And now we begin a new book of the Torah and its opening chapters contain some surprises. First of all, despite the list of the tribes of Israel, […]

By: Rabbi Rich Kirschen Director, Anita Saltz International Education Center of the World Union for Progressive Judaism Recent Issues “When the Lord saw that he (Moshe) had turned aside to look (to notice), God called out to him from out of the bush.” Exodus, Chapter 3 verse 4. Being “present in the moment” is never easy […]