Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah February 12, 2026 25 Shevet 5786 Parashat Mishpatim Shabbat Shekalim Last Sunday, there was a football game on television — and, as happens every year, a few commercials in between the action on the field. You may have watched some of it.  Robert Kraft — owner of the New England Patriots and a prominent Jewish philanthropist — reportedly spent $15 million on a Super Bowl ad combating antisemitism ( click here  to see this year’s ad). In a no

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah February 5, 2026 18 Shevet 5786 Parashat Yitro This week, in synagogues around the world, Jews will read the story of the Israelites arriving at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah. According to an ancient rabbinic teaching—a Midrash—not only those newly freed slaves stood at Sinai, but every future generation of the Jewish people as well. In some mysterious way, we were all there.  That idea carries a powerful implication. We are meant to tell

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah January 29, 2026 11 Shevet 5786 Parashat Beshalach I once had a teacher in rabbinical school who liked to say that the weekly Torah portion always speaks to what is happening in the world. The challenge, he taught, is figuring out what it is trying to say. Some weeks, of course, that task is easier than others.  In the third verse of this week’s Torah portion,  B’shallach , we are told that when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, he took

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah January 22, 2026 4 Shevet 5786 Parashat Bo I wish Miss Rachel would stick to singing songs for little kids. Unfortunately, she can’t seem to steer clear of antisemitic controversy. Most recently, she “liked” a comment on her own Instagram post that read, “Free America from the Jews.” She later claimed that she had intended to click “hide,” but accidentally hit “like” instead. I’m no Instagram expert, but that explanation strains credibility.

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah January 15, 2026 26 Tevet 5786 Parashat Vaera According to the most recent estimates, the Islamic government of Iran has killed over 12,000 Iranian citizens in response to the anti-government protests that have spread across the country. It is likely that the figure of 12,000 is an underestimate. Over the past two years, there have been many protests across the U.S. and Europe over the alleged indiscriminate killing of Muslims in Gaza. There

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah January 1, 2026 12 Tevet 5786 Parashat Vayechi I just returned from my first trip to Israel after October 7. While my family and I did many of the fun and touristy things that one would expect on a trip to Israel, I felt something pulling me south toward the site of Hamas’s invasion and violence. We went to the field near Kibbutz Be’eri where the Nova Music Festival took place. When we got there, I was immediately drawn to the  kalaniyot —th

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah December 18, 2025 28 Kislev 5786 Rosh Chodesh Hanukkah Parashat Miketz   There is an unwritten—but very important—rule passed down from generation to generation in the Jewish community this time of year: Jewish children are never, under any circumstances, allowed to tell their Christian friends that Santa Claus isn’t real. Once their friends discover the truth on their own, that’s a different matter. But the revelation should never come from

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah December 11, 2025 14 Kislev 5786 Parashat Vayeshev Last Saturday, about 20 mezuzahs were torn off the doorposts of apartments in a government-subsidized apartment building for seniors in Toronto. It’s being treated as a hate crime, but no arrests have been made.   Now, this didn’t happen in 1930’s German. This didn’t happen in 1940’s Iraq. This happened in a sophisticated North American city with approximately 200,000 Jews. It is both shocki

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah December 4, 2025 14 Kislev 5786 Parashat Vayishlach The great comedian George Carlin used to do a bit about asking a man, “How are ya?” and the man replied, “Fine and dandy.” Carlin talked about the fact that he was often fine, but not dandy at the same time. Or, he was sometimes dandy, but not fine. He could only remember one time in his life that he was both fine and dandy (it was in August 1978—in case you were wondering!). In this week’s

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah November 27, 2025 7 Kislev 5786 Parashat Vayetzei In October 1863 (that’s eight score and two years ago!), right in the middle of the US Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation designating the final Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving. It’s really remarkable. As President Lincoln himself noted, despite the ongoing war, there were still blessings for which people should give thanks. He went on to say: “I do, there

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah November 20, 2025 29 Cheshvan 5786 Parashat Toldot Maya Angelou famously taught us, “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.”  The problem is that many people try very hard to hide who they really are. We see two instances of it in this week’s Torah portion.  First, in Genesis 26:7, Isaac told Rebecca to pretend that she was his sister instead of his wife.  It’s a little trick he learned from his father Abraham who as

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah November 13, 2025 22 Cheshvan 5786 Parashat Chayei Sara As soon as it’s November, I can’t help but start thinking about Thanksgiving. I have always loved Thanksgiving. I’m sure that food has played a large part in my love affair with Thanksgiving—after all, I do love the food of Thanksgiving. But there’s more to it than that. Thanksgiving is the one American holiday on which Jews are the same as every other American. Many other so-called Ame

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah November 6, 2025 15 Cheshvan 5786 Parashat Vayera We may not be able to agree as to whether we should be happy or sad about the election results from Tuesday. However, we can ALL agree on one thing—we are all grateful that the political ads will finally stop (at least for a while!). As we all know, political campaigns go negative because the negative ads seem to work. Anger motivates people to vote more than any other emotion. Campaigns try

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah October 30, 2025 8 Cheshvan 5786 Parashat Lech Lecha Warren Buffet is well known for being a contrarian investor. His famous advice is, “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” Needless to say, he’s done pretty well with that strategy of not just following the crowd. In this week’s Torah portion, we are introduced to another well-known contrarian—our patriarch Abraham. When everyone else was worshiping idols, h

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah October 23, 2025 3 Cheshvan 5786 Parashat Noach So, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas seems to be holding. It’s not exactly peace, but it’s not war either. It reminds me of the end of the Great Flood about which we read in this week’s Torah portion. After 150 days on the Ark, God took note of Noah and all the creatures with him. And then the Torah tells us that “the waters subsided (Gen. 8:1).” The earth was still covered in water, ever

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah October 16, 2025 24 Tishri 5786 Bereshit I downloaded a new book to my iPad about two weeks ago, but I haven’t read a single word yet. I have two pretty good explanations for why that is. First of all, I have been greatly distracted by the events in Israel leading up to the ceasefire and the release of the last living hostages. Second, there have been a few Jewish holidays recently that have kept me pretty busy. But the truth is that I have

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah October 9, 2025 17 Tishri 5786 Intermediate Day There’s a beautiful tradition of welcoming special...

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah September 25, 2025 5 Tishri 5786 Shabbat Shuvah Parashat Vayeilech It was great to be together with so...

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah September 18, 2025 25 Elul 5785 Parashat Nitzavim I have to admit that I didn’t watch the Emmys, but...

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah September 11, 2025 18 Elul 5785 Selichot Parashat Ki Tavo Like many others, I have some very specific...