Rabbis deliver “words of Torah” each Shabbat, musing and commenting on the weekly Torah portion. Here are some of the texts I’ve shared with my community.
In this week's parashah, Nasso, we read one of Torah's most troubling passages: the ritual of the Sotah, the woman suspected of adultery. It is a text that makes us uncomfortable, to say the least. It describes a system where suspicion alone...
Erev Shabbat Bamidbar – 30 May 2025 / 4 Sivan 5785 Parashat Bemidbar, the opening portion of the Book of Numbers, sets the stage for the Israelites' journey through the wilderness, a period of formation, transformation, and divine encounter. Read...
31 May 2025 / 4 Sivan 5785 There is a profound question that emerges from our tradition, one that deserves our serious consideration this morning. In the Talmud, Eruvin 13b, our Sages engaged in a remarkable debate that lasted two and a half years....
Parashat Emor 17 May 2025 / 19 Iyyar 5785 This weekly parasha raises an important question, a question that has crossed Jewish history throughout its length: who truly belongs in a community? Or, from a different angle, in an increasingly complex...
Parashat Acharei Mot - Kedoshim - 10 May 2025 / 12 Iyyar 5785 "God spoke to Moses after the death (acharei mot) of the sons of Aaron..." (Lev. 16:1). Our weekly Torah portion begins with these words, "after the death of." There is a life after...
Erev Shabbat Vayikra – Maidenhead Synagogue 4 April 2025 / 7 Nissan 5785 The Hebrew word for “spirituality” is ruchaniut, derived from the root ruach, which means both “wind” and “spirit”. That connection reflects the deep connection that exists in...
Parashat Vayakhel Shabbat Vayakhel – 22 Adar II 5785 – March 21, 2025 The Power of Kehillah: The Beauty of Jewish Community What draws us to belong to a Jewish community? More broadly, why do we feel the need to belong anywhere at all? Each of us...
Parashat Ki Tissa15 March 2025 / 15 Adar 5785 In this week’s parasha, Ki Tissa, we meet Betzalel, the master craftsman chosen by God to oversee the construction of the Tabernacle (Mishkan)—the sacred space where God’s presence would dwell among the...
Yom Kippur 5785 Maidenhead Synagogue – 12 October 2024 / 10 Tishrei 5785 We are Jonah Jonah Unzufriedenheit, Jonah complains, 1914. The Machzor, the other name for the prayer book of the High Holy Days, is a corpus of texts that has evolved over...