Potential Energy
Parashat Ki Tavo begins by juxtaposing two important agricultural laws. First (Deuteronomy 26:1-11), the Torah instructs the Israelites to bring bikkurim, the first fruits…
A Multi-Generational Covenant
During the bleak times of the Holocaust, a woman inmate, like all others, stared into the sky of Auschwitz, praying to God to end the darkness. Like millions of others, she never…
Potential Energy
Parashat Ki Tavo begins by juxtaposing two important agricultural laws. First (Deuteronomy 26:1-11), the Torah instructs the Israelites to bring bikkurim, the first fruits from among the…
Memorial Prayer
According to Jewish belief, when people pass away, they move on to sojourn in the “next world,” to hopefully enjoy the spiritual rewards they have earned from their good acts in “this…
Shirt Off The Back
There are two common, related idioms that have distinct and opposite meanings: 1) giving the shirt off one’s back and 2) taking the shirt off one’s back. The former refers to an act of…
An Organizer of Women
The fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on March 25, 1911, in which 146 workers died, was a major turning point in labor organization in the United States. The terrible tragedy…
Judah, Son of Jacob
When Judah, the fourth son of Leah and Jacob, was born, Leah said, “This time let me gratefully praise God” (based on the Hebrew infinitive, l’hodot, “to praise”). Judah first…
The Memorial Prayer
According to Jewish belief, when people pass away, they move on to sojourn in the “next world,” to hopefully enjoy the spiritual rewards they have earned from their good acts in “this…
The Memorial Prayer
According to Jewish belief, when people pass away, they move on to sojourn in the “next world,” to hopefully enjoy the spiritual rewards they have earned from their good acts in “this…
A Loan For Charity
Giving charity is one of the best known precepts of “religious” life. Making loans, however, is not. The Torah instructs (Deuteronomy 15:7-8) that if there is a needy person within your…