Tenuous Memories Can Be a Threat
By Rabbi Jon Cutler
Parshat Miketz
Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh (Menashe from the Hebrew root: to forget) meaning God has made me forget completely my...
The Most Important Chanukah Candle
By Rabbi Eric Yanoff
Parshat Vayeshev
A 7-year-old member of my synagogue once asked me, “Rabbi, which is the most important candle on the chanukiyah...
Preparing to Share Chanukah’s Light
By Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz
Parshah Vayishlach
The candles. The oil. The darkness. The Light. For the Jewish people, the symbols of Chanukah remind us that...
Acknowledging Forgotten Foremothers
By Rabbi Beth Janus
Parshat Vayetzei
What if I told you that in addition to the three forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the four foremothers,...
Digging Your Own Well
By Rabbi Alan Iser
Parshat Toldot
Much of his life, the patriarch Isaac appears to be a passive figure in the events that swirl around him:...
Sarah’s Impact Still Felt Today
By Rabbi Tsurah August
Parshat Chayei Sarah
Oh, Mother Sarah!
During this time of high anxiety in our country, especially the weeks leading up to the election,...
We Can Make That Change
By Rabbi Jeremy Schneider
Parshah Vayera
In the year 1054, there was a huge supernova explosion, an explosion that eventually became the Crab Nebula. Astronomers in...
Let Us All Be ‘Fanatics,’ Like Abraham
By Rabbi Elchonon Friedman
Parshat Lech Lecha
Abraham was a fanatic. He understood G-d to be different from the accepted worldview of his era. Contrary to...
Belief Never as Important as Action
By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
Parshat Noach
Efrat, Israel — “And Haran died before his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur Kasdim” (Gen. 11:28).
When...
The Day We Stop in the Name of Love
By Rabbi Shawn Zevit
Shemini Atzeret
“On the eighth day (of Sukkot), you will have a holy day ... it is a day of cessation, of...