Revelation – Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

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

May 23, 2023

The Torah Is Not a TED Talk

This is a D'var Torah I shared February 11, 2023 for Parashat Yitro, but I'm publishing it now right before Shavuot, when we read the same section of the Torah, Exodus 19-20. This book — the Torah — has been read and encountered by millions of people through so many generations, and changed their lives… Continue reading

Books, Calendar, Conservative Judaism, Ethics, Heschel, Holidays, Maimonides, Parashat Hashavua, Prophets, Revelation, Shavuot, Study, Torah, Yitro

August 18, 2022

Your Unorthodox Theology Won’t Break Judaism

My D’var Torah from July 30, 2022 * 2 Av 5782 One of my favorite anecdotes about morning davvening (praying) comes from the Babylonian Talmud. Rabbi Chanina went to shul one day. This was some 1700 years ago, give or take, and at the time there were no siddurim (written prayerbooks). People who led knew the… Continue reading

Calendar, Elul, High Holidays, Holidays, Jewish Education, Prayer, Rabbi, Revelation, Rosh Hashanah, Spirituality, Synagogue, Theology, Tisha B’Av, Torah, Yamim Noraim

January 12, 2018

Why Exodus Is the Most Important Book of All Time

My D’var Torah at Beth Abraham on Shabbat morning, Saturday, January 6, 2018. Today we begin reading the most important book in human history — Sefer Shmot, the book of Exodus. This is the book that transformed what was possible in the world and what was imaginable in the world. You can divide human history… Continue reading

Books, Current Affairs, Ethics, Exodus, Freedom, Leadership, Pesach, Prayer, Revelation, Shabbat, Shmot, Spirituality, Theology, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedakah, Tzedek, Va’era

October 27, 2016

Starting Over: What Is the Torah?

What is the Torah? This week we start reading it from the beginning on Shabbat. We usually think about the Torah one story at a time, or one teaching at a time. What is the Torah when we zoom back? If you've got seven and a half minutes to listen, here are some thoughts on… Continue reading

Bereshit, Calendar, Jewish Education, Parashat Hashavua, Rabbi, Revelation, Torah

May 14, 2013

Erev Shavuot 5773

Dear Friends: According to the Torah, when God brought the Israelites to Mount Sinai, they heard God's voice directly, as a group, for the one and only time in history. And God said…. "Do not steal." But surely people already knew that! "Do not murder." Did the people really need God's voice to get them… Continue reading

Holidays, Midrash, Revelation, Shavuot, Study, Temple Beth Abraham, Tikkun Olam, Torah

February 4, 2010

Heschel This Week on the Sinai Revelation

This week's selection from Heschel's God in Search of Man is keyed to Parashat Yitro and the Revelation at Mt. Sinai. I'll post more passages in future weeks on Heschel's view of the Torah, or you can read a several page explanation I prepared for one of my classes here. To subscribe to the weekly… Continue reading

Heschel, Revelation, Spirituality