Va’era – Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

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 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

January 19, 2012

Parashat Va’era: Knowing God’s Name

At the beginning of Parashat Va'era, God says to Moshe: I appeared to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaacov as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My name Y-H-V-H (Exodus 6:2). Rashi explains that the early ancestors had a difference experience of God than the Israelites would in Egypt. The chassidic… Continue reading

Parashat Hashavua, Va’era