On the surface, Parashat Ekev is about what kind of people God expects that Israel will become. We read that Israel’s God “demands” many things—reverence, love, obedience and devotion. Israel is warned of the afflictions of affluence—ingratitude and materialism, and is reminded of the many benefactions that God has bestowed upon them since the days…
Walking Together with God: Behukotai 5774
[Written and originally posted for the JTS Torah Commentary] I saw a strange thing on my walk to minyan the other morning. At a quiet side street with no cross-traffic in sight, a woman stood still, waiting for the walk sign. All around her people bustled by, peeking quickly to make sure no truck was…
Creating a Just Society in Israel: Behar 5774
The confluence of Yom Ha’Atzmaut with Parashat Behar reminds us that the Torah is designed not for individual spiritual expression, but for collective fulfillment. Our short portion emphasizes communal responsibility. Its distinctive mitzvot of the sabbatical and jubilee years both require individuals to relinquish their private holdings, whether on real estate or over other people, so…
Counting Omer by Days, Weeks, and Divinity: Emor 5774
A favorite heirloom from my teacher and mother Phyllis Nevins z”l is an olive wood Omer counter that she bought in Israel. Each night we twist a little wood peg to advance the scroll to announce the new day in handsome STaM letters. Today is the seventeenth day of counting Omer, which is two weeks and three…
Love Your Neighbors–Plants and Animals Included: Kedoshim 5774
I’m sad to say it, but apocalypse was on my mind over Pesah. Elizabeth Kolbert’s new book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, took me through a few hundred million years of natural history, during which the earth has experienced five “extinction events” when a large portion of the biosphere died off. The most famous…
Shabbat HaGadol 5774: Got Your Goat?
One kid, just one kid-חד גדיא, חד גדיא. Goats are the key connection between Parshat Aharei Mot and Shabbat HaGadol. Our portion features two goats that are the most visible signs of dedication and atonement of the Yom Kippur ritual, and it also offers a cryptic reference to Israel’s past history of goat worship. In…
Magic or Morality? Metzora 5774
Ritual is essential to religious life, but what does it actually accomplish? Is our elaborate system of gestures and taboos purely symbolic, or does it effect some sort of spiritual shift in reality? In our portion, we are told that the priest purifies a person or a home that has been afflicted with tzara’at by…
Born Again: Tazria/HaHodesh 5774
One winter night some years ago I crossed the parking lot of Providence Hospital in Southfield, MI. Looking up, I saw a great cloud of steam rising from the heat grates, dramatically lit by floodlights mounted on the hospital roof. This dynamic swirling above the hospital, combined perhaps with the heaviness I felt in visiting…
Sacred BBQ: Shmini/Parah 5774
Spring has arrived, and with it the smell of sacred BBQ. I don’t mean that literally, especially with so many vegetarians in our community, but the confluence of Parshat Shmini and Shabbat Parah means that there is a great deal of attention paid to the selection, slaughter, sacrifice and eating of animals. Chapter 11 of…
The Eyes of the Community: Vayikra 5774
Can you imagine what it would look like if the Jewish people took collective responsibility for creating a righteous and just society? If instead of a squabbling and loosely organized confederation of miniature camps, we had a truly representative Jewish leadership that held itself accountable to the people and to God? I confess that it is hard to imagine such…
The Perfect Perfume: Ki Tisa 5774
One Shabbat in Jerusalem, about 22 years ago, my wife and I were walking down Kovshei Katamon to our minyan. We fell in step with an older Yemenite woman who was holding a fragrant bouquet of basil flowers to enjoy in synagogue. She was already heading home (Temanin pray at 6 AM, even on Shabbat), and spontaneously gave…
The Color of Heaven: Titzaveh 5774
What’s your favorite color? That’s a question we love to ask of children, because it’s easy to have an opinion, and there is no wrong reply. Purple? Great answer! We also pose the question in new games—getting to know a stranger by asking something whimsical about them. Oddly, this simple question would often stump me….
Rabbi Danny Nevins 