Rabbi Eleanor Steinman, RJE | Congregation Beth Israel, Texas, USA This year, the Omer, the time between the celebrations of Passover and Shavuot took on new meaning. As our world responded to the Covid-19 pandemic it felt like we are counting with extra intensity. When the stay home orders came to my home state of […]

Rabbi Joseph Edelheit | founding Rabbi of Associação Israelita Norte Paranaense (Beit Tikvá), Maringa, Brazil   Every book of the Torah has two titles. The Hebrew title is derived from the first word or the first most significant word. The other title comes from the Latin translation which was later translated into English in the 1611 King James […]

Rabbi Dr Barbara Borts | Associate Lecturer, Dept of Music, Newcastle University, UK Bechukotai. It begins quite nicely, doesn’t it, lots of ‘blessed be, but it sure doesn’t end nicely. Every blessing is countered in the next section, turned into its evil opposite, the curse. If you have ever been to a traditional shul during […]

Rabbi Dr. Rena Arshinoff, PhD | Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Canada Pirkei Avot 3:14 teaches that Rabbi Akiva said “human beings are loved because they were made in God’s image.” As a result, we are troubled by the subsequent verses in Parashat Emor that follow a list of visible physical “defects” that priests […]

Rabbi David A. Kunin | Jewish Community of Japan, Tokyo, Japan Keddoshim t’ hyu ki kaddosh ani Adonai Elohayhem You shall be holy, for I the Eternal your God, am holy. Over the past few months, I think the Kaddish has been more on my mind than ever before. With the uncertainty and social isolation […]

Rabbi Dr Ulrike Offenberg | Reform Jewish Community of Hamelin, Germany This year the parashot of Tazria and Metzora are bound together to a double parashah, and neither of them has ever been one of the favourite Torah readings of Liberal Jews. We hear about skin afflictions, swellings, rashes, body discharges and how the priest […]

Rabbi James Bennett | Congregation Shaare Emeth, St. Louis, USA In the midst of the global challenge of the CoVID 19 pandemic, our Torah portion, Shemini, could not be more relevant. The ancient wisdom of the Torah reminds us of the dangers of arrogance, haughty self-interest and selfishness, disregard for communal welfare, and the absence […]

Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld | Congregation Albert, New Mexico, USA   Perhaps, this year, the question we should be asking at Seder is:   ׁ?מה נשתנה הפסח הזה – Ma nishtanah haPesach hazeh? Why is this Pesach different from all other Pesachs?   With the COVID-19 pandemic there are some obvious answers. • Going out to […]

Rabbi Dr Barbara Borts | Associate Lecturer, Dept of Music, Newcastle University, UK The root tzv in the Tanakh means, of course, command, and the parashah for this week opens with the imperative form of the root – Tzav! Command! ‎ Most people are perhaps better acquainted with the noun form derived from the root, namely, mitzvah. Mitzvah means ‘commandment’, but, if you ask most American Jews what a […]

Rabbi Neal Borovitz | Rabbi Emeritus at Temple Avodat Shalom, New Jersey, USA The third book of Torah, similar to the book of Exodus/ Sh’mot, which we have just completed, is known to us by two names. In English we refer to the book by the descriptive name given it by the ancient Jews of […]