Crushed

Categories: Ki Tisa, Parsha

A WEEKLY TORAH THOUGHT FROM RABBI MORDY This week’s Parsha is a rough one. It should have been simply a purely positive and momentous event on the Jewish calendar – the giving of the Torah – with its culmination in Moses’s returning to them with the entire backstory if you will. Instead, what took place was a grave error and… Read More

A Glaring Omission

Categories: Parsha, Tetzaveh

A WEEKLY TORAH THOUGHT FROM RABBI MORDY You know how some things are famous for what they aren’t? Like an apology that isn’t really an apology – “I’m sorry for how that made you feel.”Or a speech that doesn’t mention by name the one thing that people were listening for? So this week’s Parsha -Tetzaveh – is one of those… Read More

Give and Take

Categories: Parsha, Terumah

A WEEKLY TORAH THOUGHT FROM RABBI MORDY This week’s Parsha – Terumah – contains a lesson truly crucial to us as an organization. The Parsha begins, “v’yikchu li Terumah,” which literally translates to mean, “And they shall take to Me (G-d) contributions.” I translate literally because this word is confusing. Take? Isn’t “give” the more accurate term? There must be… Read More

Practically Perfect

Categories: Mishpatim, Parsha

A WEEKLY TORAH THOUGHT FROM RABBI MORDY Every Parsha has its theme. This week’s Parsha, Mishpatim, has loads of commandments—53 in total—and is therefore called “Mishpatim,” which literally means “judgments.” This word typically refers to specific commandments, as Mitzvot are broken up into three categories. “Edut” are testimonials, those we wouldn’t necessarily have considered in establishing a society, but which… Read More

Free Advice!

Categories: Parsha, Yitro

A WEEKLY TORAH THOUGHT FROM RABBI MORDY There is a well-known Yiddish phrase that goes, “a gast oif a vayil zet far a mayil,” this translates to, (and never well because somehow it doesn’t have the same ring in English): a guest for a bit can see for a mile. This week’s Parsha (Yitro) is named after Moses’s father-in-law. Who… Read More

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Ark of History

Want to build an Ark? I Noah guy. Well, we’re right back at the beginning with the famous story of Russell Crowe, er, Noah’s Ark. It’s a wild ride (mind all the puns) marked by leads of corruption in this newly created world that needs to undergo a “cleansing,” or mass tragic flood that wipes out most of the population… Read More

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Same but Different

A WEEKLY TORAH THOUGHT BY RABBI MORDY And so it begins. We concluded the Torah on Simchat Torah, this past Wednesday, with joy and singing and dancing, only to immediately turn around and begin again. The same but different cycle to be sure, the beauty found in seeking new meaning in the Parsha—we are have all changed from our internal… Read More

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Get Happy! (Seriously!)

A WEEKLY TORAH THOUGHT BY RABBI MORDY This week, as mentioned last week, we don’t technically read a specific Parsha. We read a special reading from the Torah associated with Sukkot; on Wednesday, Simchat Torah, we will actually read the final portion (V’zot habracha). So I’m going to share a brief thought on Sukkot in that spirit. Sukkot is seriously… Read More

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