Bekhukotai: The God I Believe In

Bekhukotai: The God I Believe In

The yearly Torah-reading cycle is a beautiful thing. Every week, when I look at the parashah for the upcoming Shabbat, I see something I hadn’t noticed before. I also the same words year-after-year, but find different understandings of them, depending on what’s going...
Behar: Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Land

Behar: Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Land

This Shabbat we read parashat Behar, “on the mountain,” and from that mountain–Sinai–God gave Moses the commandments regarding Shmita and Yovel, the sabbatical and jubilee years, where the land was to lie fallow, not being planted or harvested. But wait, weren’t all...
Behar-Bekhukotai: Seven and Fifty

Behar-Bekhukotai: Seven and Fifty

birthday cake with 5-0 candles from zen imagery on Flickr, 7 candle from a package Behar-Bekhukotai: Seven and Fifty by Chaplain Barry E. Pitegoff, BCC           Rabbi Elkodsi frames this book as “But Who’s Counting?” My professor of Gerontology taught that counting...
Kedoshim: How Are We Holy?

Kedoshim: How Are We Holy?

What does it mean to be kadosh, “holy,” or “sanctified”? I always used to think it meant “elevated,” or somehow, “better than” something or someone else. Dictionary.com would certainly have you believe that, but the Hebrew word, kadosh, means “to be set apart.” A...

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