Torah

A Flood of Questions About How to Prioritize

NOAH, Genesis 6:9-11:32

By:

Rabbi Howard A. Addison

For centuries, our sages have debated the relative moral status of our sedra's title character. The Torah describes Noah as "wholehearted and righteous in his generation." Do these descriptors praise Noah -- or damn him? Some claim that maintaining one's moral compass during a depraved age represents high ethical achievement. Others state that Noah would have been dwarfed had he...

Torah

The Directive? To Go Forward, to Begin Again

BERESHI, Genesis 1:1-6:8

By:

Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell

This is our time of beginning, again. On Rosh Hashanah, we ushered in a new year, 5771. For some of us, the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur proved a time of contemplation and reflection, and then, following Kol Nidre, we entered the Sabbath of Sabbaths. We joined Jews across the world in repeating prayers and songs of...

Torah

Power of the Outdoors, and All Those Huts

Sukkot

By:

Rabbi Joshua Runyan

RABBI JOSHUA RUNYAN No matter where you turn this week -- whether you're walking along a residential street in the center of Israel, traipsing through midtown Manhattan or strolling along the tree-lined streets of more than a few neighborhoods in suburban Philadelphia -- you're bound to come across a few sukkahs, those curious-looking booths for which the current festival gets...

Torah

Wake Up, and Face Life's Realities

YOM KIPPUR-YIZKOR, Leviticus 16:1-34

By:

Rabbi Danielle Stillman

As I write this devar Torah and think ahead to Yom Kippur, my mind turns to the upcoming birth of my second child, due just the day before Yom Kippur. My first one had a similar due date, although she was born three weeks early. I was completely unprepared. I'd like to think that I am more prepared this time...

Torah

Listening and Learning Shofar's Secret Code

HA'AZINU, Deuteronomy 32:1-32:52

By:

Rabbi Howard A. Addison

I consider it more than coincidental that the parshah most often read between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is Ha'azinu. The first word of this Torah reading bids us to listen, and we certainly have done a great deal of that during these Holy Days. We've listened to the chanting of the chazzan and to the rabbi's sermons; we've listened...