Parashat Hashavua – Page 3 – Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

October 3, 2025

My Annual Ode to Another Time Through the Whole Torah

From the intensity of Yom Kippur — I hope it was meaningful for those who observe it — this Shabbat is the final time we read the regular weekly Torah portion without a festival. Here is what I’ll say about that in services tomorrow, a version of my annual ode to this incredible syndicated serial… Continue reading

Calendar, Haazinu, Parashat Hashavua, Simchat Torah, Torah, Yamim Noraim

May 8, 2025

A Year of Jewish Ethics #15: Gossip (Lashon Ha-Ra)

How does Torah define gossip? The dictionaries in English describe gossip as talking about people behind their backs, usually in an uncomplimentary way; or spreading rumors about people without knowing whether something is true; or sharing private details about someone without their permission. Gossip seems like a casual kind of talking, though of course the… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Ethics, Gossip, Kedoshim, Lashon Hara, Maimonides, Metzora, Middot, Parashat Hashavua, Speech Ethics, Tazria, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

March 27, 2025

A Year of Jewish Ethics #13: Lost and Found

It is a mitzvah to return a lost object to its owner. That might seem like a fairly obvious thing to do, but what’s not so obvious is why Jewish law considers returning things to be such a major mitzvah. There are eight chapters devoted entirely to lost and found in the Mishneh Torah, the… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Ethics, Exodus, Ki Tetze, Mishpatim, Parashat Hashavua, Soul, Torah, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

March 14, 2025

Yasher Koach

Here is the draft of my D'var Torah for tomorrow, when we read Parashat Ki Tisa and the story of the Golden Calf. When someone has an honor to the Torah, we say to them: Yasher koach. This is a Yiddish-y inflection for yishar kochacha. Koach is strength and there are two views of what… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Ki Tissa, Parashat Hashavua, Purim, Torah, USA

March 12, 2025

Antisemitism, Our Security and Our Souls — Wisdom From the Book of Esther

This was Dvar Torah for Shabbat Zachor last weekend, March 8, 2025. Last year at this time, I coined a term for a brand-new approach to wellbeing. I called it EIST, for “Esther-Informed Spiritual Therapy.” The big idea is that the Purim story is the best mirror in entire Tanakh, the whole Bible, for Jews… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Esther, Holidays, Jewish Education, Leadership, Parashat Hashavua, Patience, Power, Purim, Shabbat Zachor, USA, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

March 6, 2025

A Year of Jewish Ethics #12: Exodus and Freedom

In my overview of ethics and Exodus, you may have noticed I didn’t talk about one central idea: freedom! Well, the Jewish conception of freedom deserves its very own presentation. In Judaism freedom has many layers. The term for free people is b’nai chorin; a free person might be a bat chorin or a ben… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Beshalach, Ethics, Freedom, Justice, Middot, Parashat Hashavua, Power, Torah, Yitro, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

February 20, 2025

A Year of Jewish Ethics #11: Exodus and Ethics

Most of this series is about specific concepts in Jewish ethics, but like the last one I recorded I want to talk here about something foundational, namely the Exodus story and how it generates so much of Jewish ethics. Sometimes when we say “Exodus” we’re talking about the part we focus on during Pesach, the… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Abuse, Antisemitism, Ethics, Exodus, Middot, Parashat Hashavua, Shmot, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

February 13, 2025

Lessons For Our Moment, From When the Ten Commandments Were Individually Delivered

This is a version of the D'var Torah on Parashat Yitro that I gave in 2021/5781. I've lightly updated it to reflect the changes in the pandemic and the presidential administration since then. It centers a midrash I've linked, and my own take on that midrash. The midrash called Shir Ha-Shirim Rabba takes the opening… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Middot, Parashat Hashavua, Revelation, Torah, Yitro

February 10, 2025

A Year of Jewish Ethics #10: Teshuvah

One of the most fundamental Jewish ethical practices is teshuvah. Teshuvah is the word that’s often translated as “repentance” and is too often just associated in people’s minds with the season of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Yamim Nora’im or Days of Awe. The word teshuvah has a broader meaning of “going back” or… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Bereshit, Ethics, Maimonides, Middot, Miketz, Parashat Hashavua, Teshuvah, Vayeshev, Vayiggash, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

January 30, 2025

A Year of Jewish Ethics #9: If Someone Treats You Badly How Good Do You Have to Remain?

All of us want to hold ourselves to a high standard of integrity and honesty and to go the extra mile for people as much as we can. But what happens when we are stuck dealing with another person who is either straight up unethical toward us, or whose actions are only just technically acceptable,… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Ethics, Middot, Money, Parashat Hashavua, Torah, Vayetze, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

January 2, 2025

A Year of Jewish Ethics #8: War and Peace

The word Shalom is probably the most widely-known Hebrew word, among Jews and also people who aren’t Jewish. Shalom means peace, and because of that Shalom is also the word for greeting someone and saying goodbye. Shalom means not just peace but wellbeing and wholeness, so when we see someone we are expressing our hope… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Calendar, Current Affairs, Ethics, Israel, Jerusalem, Parashat Hashavua, Peace, Torah, Vayishlach, War

December 27, 2024

A Year of Jewish Ethics #7: Competition

The story of Yaakov and Esav is basically about an unending competition, which begins even in the womb over who will be born first. Esav wins, earning the birthright which would be relevant for inheritance way later — but Yaakov manages to get it from him in a deal for some lentil stew. The brothers… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Ethics, Parashat Hashavua, Psychology, Talmud, Toldot, Torah