In Chapter 3 of Megillat (the scroll of) Esther – which we read on Purim – we’re introduced to our villain, Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Aggagite, who becomes promoted to be King Achashverosh’s second-in-command. Haman expected that everyone would bow...
A story is told that when a gentile came to the great Hillel and said, “Teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot,” Hillel replied, “That which is hateful to you, do not do unto others. All the rest is commentary. Now go and learn!” The Torah also commands...
Excerpt from the “I Have A Dream” speech by the Rev. Martin Luther King set to Haftorah trope, chanted by Rabbi Susan Elkodsi. I HAVE A DREAM I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest...
When we think about our personal legacies, and the intangibles we leave behind along with money, jewelry and other goods, two of the things that are often at the top of a list of “spiritual” or “ethical” bequests are a desire that one’s children get along once the...
Parashat Mikketz, which is almost always read on Shabbat during Hanukkah, begins with Pharaoh’s dream of 7 fat cows being swallowed up by seven lean cows, and the seven hearty sheaves of wheat replaced by the frail, windblown ones. Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but...
This week’s Torah reading is Vayishlach, and contains the famous story of Jacob wrestling with the angel before his meeting with his brother Esau after 20 years. “And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When he saw that he had not prevailed against him,...
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