Shavuot
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Three Meanings of “Commandment”
I gave this D’var Torah the week of Parashat Yitro and the Kitah Vav class service of the Beth Abraham Religious School, February 2, 2013. Though I was addressing the young people most directly, the words are for parents and all adults as well! This morning I’m giving my D’var Torah before we even begin… Continue reading
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The World Needs Us Not Just to Learn Torah but to Receive It (Preparing for Shavuot)
This is an edited version of my D’var Torah on the Shabbat just preceding Shavuot in 5782 (2022). It’s among others another take on the midrashim about the giving of the Torah that I teach over and over, and a meta-take on what it takes for Torah to be significant when we engage with the… Continue reading
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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
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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
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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
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Parashat Yitro: The Ten Commandments — Obvious or Revolutionary?
The Ten Commandments. We see them everywhere, the two tablets. On synagogue buildings and over the aron kodesh, the ark containing the Torah scrolls. In pictures of Moses across the history of biblical art. At courts of law. The tablets are so familiar we might stop noticing them. And the words on the tablets. In… Continue reading
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