A WEEKLY TORAH THOUGHT FROM RABBI MORDY This week’s Parsha (Vayakhel) tells of the artisans, the expert craftsmen who produced the Mishkan, the Tabernacle where the Jewish people served G-d in the desert. What is most interesting to note is how little this differs from the previous portions where G-d commands it to Moses and Moses conveys to the Jewish… Read More

A WEEKLY TORAH THOUGHT FROM RABBI MORDY This week’s Parsha, Ki Sissa, should really be pronounced Ki Seesaw for all of its ups and downs. Let’s give a little background. The Jewish people overcame a superpower in fleeing slavery in Egypt. Moses leads them through a miraculously split sea and, after winning a war along the way, they arrive at… Read More

A WEEKLY TORAH THOUGHT FROM RABBI MORDY This week’s Parsha (Tetzave) has a unique feature: Moses’s name is not mentioned. It does refer to him, just not by name. Along these same lines, there are many underlying lessons in the Parsha, generally and specifically, that aren’t initially apparent. In one of those lessons, we are told of how the Menorah… Read More

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 appropriate term? There must be… Read More

A WEEKLY TORAH THOUGHT FROM RABBI MORDY This week’s Parsha – Mishpatim – lists a variety of laws that were taught in the immediate aftermath of the giving of the Torah. So which laws would you expect? Naturally laws relating to faith, G-d, something lofty and spiritual perhaps? Let’s think of the circumstances of the Jewish people at that time.… Read More