Moshe

July 17, 2026

Four Takes on the Book of Deuteronomy (Shabbat Chazon, Devarim 5782/2022)

This was my D’var Torah on August 26, 2022 for Parashat Devarim, the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy. When you look at the Torah in the scroll or even in a book, it all looks the same – the stories, the laws, the recipes for meals at the altar, the census lists and travelogues,… Continue reading

Books, Brit, Calendar, Devarim, High Holidays, History, Holidays, Jewish Education, Leadership, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Prophets, Simchat Torah, Study, Synagogue, Teshuvah, Torah
July 10, 2026

Moshe the Uncompromising? (Mattot/Mas’ei 5779/2019)

This was my D’var Torah for Parashiyot Mattot-Mas’ei on August 3, 2019. As you’ll quickly see, it’s a monologue in the voice of Moshe. Sam Waterston. In the role of New York City Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy on Law and Order. That’s who would play me, Moshe, and that’s exactly how he would play… Continue reading

Anger, B’midbar, Ethics, Leadership, Mas’ei, Mattot, Middot, Miryam, Moshe, Negotiation, Parashat Hashavua, Patience, Peace, Torah

Aharon
July 2, 2026

Hope in America — Data Points and Torah (Chukkat-Balak 5786/2026)

This was my D’var Torah for June 27, 2026, a week before America’s 250th anniversary, for Parashiyot Chukkat-Balak. Though I don’t reference it specifically, Parashat Balak is an interlude in the complaints of the wilderness, a reassurance from the outside that despite the challenges the people are experiencing they are fundamentally blessed and their project… Continue reading

Balak, Calendar, Chukkat, Current Affairs, Exodus, History, Holidays, Hope, Leadership, Miryam, Moshe, Numbers, Parashat Hashavua, Power, Torah, USA
January 6, 2026

Love Is a Form of Sweet Labor (Parashat Shmot 5779)

This was my D’var Torah for Parashat Shmot in 5779 just before New Year’s, at the turn of 2018 into 2019. I have come to love the hinge between the book of Bereshit (Genesis) and the book of Shmot (Exodus). The sense of something coiled up and about to uncoil. My rav at the Seminary,… Continue reading

Calendar, Love, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Shmot, Torah
January 6, 2026

Brotherhood, Evolving (Parashat Shmot, MLK Weekend 5783/2023)

This is excerpted and adapted from a D’var Torah I gave in January 2023, when MLK Weekend began on Shabbat with Parashat Shmot, the opening reading in the book of Exodus. Here I’ve omitted the (long) opening, which is very similar to most of the other words I have posted about those opening chapters of… Continue reading

Civil Rights, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Equality, Ethics, Exodus, History, Inclusion, Justice, MLK Day, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Shmot, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
October 9, 2024

A Year Later, Back to Moshe’s Final Words of Blessing — Rosh Hashanah 5785 (2024) Day 1

On Simchat Torah morning, after we parade with the Torah scrolls, we gather around to read the very last words of Moshe Rabbenu, Moses our teacher. The man who could hardly speak departs with an original song – his words, not God’s. And his last sentence in life begins: Ashreicha Yisrael, Mi Chamocha. Happy… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Calendar, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Gaza, High Holidays, Holidays, Hope, Interfaith Dialogue, Israel, Leadership, Moshe, Power, Rosh Hashanah, Terrorism, Torah, Yamim Noraim, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
August 2, 2024

Herds, Hearts, and Hashgacha: A D’var Torah on Mattot-Masei

Here is a D'var Torah for Parashiyot Mattot-Masei, the end of the book of B'midbar (Numbers), specifically chapter 32. The best two-word opening to a story probably in the whole Bible is cattle — lotsa! ומקנה רב umikneh rav. To me it’s right up there with “In the beginning” and “God tested Avraham.” The first… Continue reading

Calendar, High Holidays, Holidays, Mas’ei, Mattot, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Spirituality, Torah, Yamim Noraim
May 3, 2024

Tentative Torah For the Week’s Parasha and Week of Protests

Some meandering and very rough notes about the opening of this week’s Torah reading, Leviticus 16. It stands on its own, though originally this all emerged from me during the spring 2024 events at Columbia University and other places. The chapter appears to be just the description by the Divine to Moshe and Aharon (Moses… Continue reading

Acharei Mot, Antisemitism, Calendar, Current Affairs, Foregiveness, Friendship, Gaza, Holidays, Interfaith Dialogue, Israel, Justice, Leadership, Middot, Midrash, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Patience, Ritual, Tzedek, USA, Yom Kippur, Young Jewish Adult
January 12, 2024

D’var Torah: Questioning and Certainty

This is my D'var Torah for Shabbat, Parashat Va-era, January 13, 2024. It also reminds me of a Rosh Hashanah sermon I gave in 2022/5783, "Right-ology: How To Be Right Better in the New Year" In August we went down to New York for the simchat bat celebration for our newest grandniece, and when we… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Ethics, Exodus, Gaza, Israel, Justice, Midrash, MLK Day, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Power, Shmot, Torah, Tzedek, Va’era, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
January 5, 2024

Who Were the Baby-Savers of Exodus and Who Are We?

Saving babies, according to the Torah, was the first crack in the oppression of the Israelites by Pharaoh. In the first two chapters of Exodus, the start of this week’s Torah reading in the synagogue and Jewish study cycle, two sets of people save baby boy Israelites from the death decreed by Pharaoh. First it’s… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Calendar, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Exodus, Feminism, Freedom, Gaza, History, Holidays, Interfaith Dialogue, Israel, Midrash, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Peace, Shmot, Terrorism, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
July 26, 2022

More Daughters of Tzelophechad, Less Pinchas: How to Stand Up Today

This is my D'var Torah from last Shabbat, Saturday, July 23, 2022. “It’s not a movement if everyone’s just sitting.” That’s a line from a conversation between then-Professor Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her 15-year-old daughter Jane in the film On the Basis of Sex, which is partly the story of how RBG, zichrona livracha, came… Continue reading

Community Relations, Current Affairs, Equality, Feminism, Gender, Inclusion, Justice, Leadership, Midrash, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Patience, Peace, Pinchas, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA
March 31, 2022

Don’t Strike the [R]ock — Reflections on the Oscars

Head over to my blog at the Times of Israel. Continue reading

Chukkat, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Education, Ethics, Exodus, Jewish Education, Moshe, Movies, Pesach, Shmot, USA