Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah May 7, 2026 22 Iyar 5786 Parashat Behar-Bechukotai This spring, I’ve had the privilege of watching the Summit High School softball team’s incredible season. They’ve been ranked as high as third in the state, and last week, NJ.com called them the best public-school team in New Jersey. Now, it’s on to the county and state tournaments. Just last week, I was cheering on the team at Memorial Field when a father with an elementary-school-aged daug

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah April 30, 2026 13 Iyar 5786 Parashat Emor One of the first Hebrew songs I remember learning was “David Melech Yisrael” (David, King of Israel), complete with the nifty hand gestures. The Jewish star I wear around my neck is called a Magen David—the Shield of David. And perhaps the best-known prayer after the Sh'ma is Psalm 23, which begins, “Mizmor L'David”—A Psalm of David. This David fellow seems to be everywhere in Jewish tradition. So im

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah April 23, 2026 6 Iyar 5786 Achrei Mot-Kedoshim Going back to Israel this past December brought back many wonderful memories from earlier trips. In the Old City of Jerusalem, we were discouraged from wandering through the Arab market known simply as “the Shuk.” But that’s not how it used to be. I vividly remember my first foray into the Shuk—moving from stand to stand. When I found something I wanted, I began to negotiate. We settled on a pri

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah April 16, 2026 29 Nisan 5786 Tazria-Metzora Rosh Chodesh We’re having some work done in our backyard today. We’ve been dealing with some drainage issues. So, at one point I stepped outside to check in with the head of the crew and see how things were going. In the course of our conversation, he asked what I do. I told him I’m a rabbi. Without missing a beat, he told me that he had lived in Israel for two years doing construction—and that he

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah April 1, 2026 14 Nisan 5786 Passover The first Passover is described in the Torah itself—Exodus 12—and its focus is clear: the eating of the Passover sacrifice and getting out of Egypt. The Passover Haggadah as we know it took shape much later, largely compiled about 2,000 years ago. Its earliest version appears in the Mishnah, redacted around 200 CE, in chapter 10 of tractate Pesachim . So while Passover itself stretches back more than 3

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah March 26, 2026 10 Nisan 5786 Shabbat Hagadol Parashat Tzav As Passover approaches, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Afikoman—the half-piece of matzah we hide during the Seder. The Seder can’t be completed until the Afikoman is found and everyone has a taste. As a child, I loved searching for it, hoping I’d be the one to earn the prize and help move the Seder along. As an adult, I loved watching my kids take up that same joyful hunt. But I

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-TorahMarch 19, 2026 3 Nisan 5786 Parashat Vayikra It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a week since the attempted attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan. It still feels like it just happened. And because the story had the best possible ending—no fatalities and only one minor injury—we can take a moment to notice something genuinely uplifting that emerged from it. The response of Temple Israel’s Chaldean neighbors was simply i

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah March 12, 2026 23 Adar 5786 Shabbat Hachodesh Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudei I sat down at my computer after teaching my Talmud class and eating some lunch, and I began seeing notifications about an active shooter incident at Temple Israel in suburban Detroit—my hometown. I’ve since learned that the shooter has been confirmed dead and that there were no other fatalities. Thank God. This comes just days after two synagogues in Toronto—Beth Avraham

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah March 5, 2026 16 Adar 5786 Shabbat Parah Parashat Ki Tisa In a text as long and as old as the Torah, there are bound to be some wacky things. But of all the bizarre rituals in the Torah, perhaps none is stranger than the Red Heifer ceremony we will read about this Shabbat. In Numbers 19, we learn that a completely red heifer—its hide, flesh, blood, and even its dung—was entirely burned, together with cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson thread. T

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah February 19, 2026 9 Adar 5786 Shabbat Zachor Parashat Tetzaveh If you spend any time at all online, then you have probably met Punch the monkey. If you haven’t, let me introduce you.Punch was born in a zoo in Japan, and for whatever reason, his mother rejected him. As a result, he was excluded by the other macaques. He tried to form bonds with the zoo staff, but they understood what he really needed: other monkeys. In the meantime, they gave

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah February 19, 2026 2 Adar 5786 Parashat Terumah Shul Runnings. When my nephew told me that was the name of the Israeli bobsled team at this year’s Winter Olympics, I assumed he was joking. The Israeli bobsled team may be the most unlikely squad since the Jamaican team that inspired the film “Cool Runnings.” And yet, somehow, here we are. I did not expect the Yiddish word for synagogue to make its way to the Milan/Cortina Games. It may not be

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