Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

New web host, new look! Bear with me while I set things up and make sure the content and links I had before are updated in the coming weeks.

Shmini

July 20, 2021

Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy — A Map of Spring and Summer 2021

I've been wanting to get this down for weeks…. I’ve been very affected since March by Torah time – by how the cycle of reading the Torah in synagogue has mapped onto our experience of the pandemic since its one-year anniversary. The first anniversary of the formal declaration of the pandemic and the massive shut-downs… Continue reading

B’haalotcha, B’midbar, Behar, Calendar, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Elul, High Holidays, Holidays, Ki Tetze, Ki Tissa, Korach, Leadership, Mas’ei, Mattot, Metzora, Naso, Numbers, Parashat Hashavua, Patience, Pekudei, Pinchas, Re’eh, Rosh Hashanah, Shmini, Shoftim, Study, Tisha B’Av, Torah, USA, Vayakhel, Vayikra, Yamim Noraim
April 9, 2010

Parashat Shmini: Liberated by Kashrut

The Sfat Emet has an interesting comment on the section of Parashat Shmini that enumerates which animals are fit to eat. He says: “By means of forbidden foods, freedom is taken away from the soul, and thus one who eats them denies the Exodus from Egypt.” One might think the opposite. The laws of kashrut… Continue reading

Food, Kashrut, Parashat Hashavua, Shmini