Shavuot
Baking Bread Temple Style
Shavuot is an annual Jewish holiday, one of the three Biblically mandated pilgrimage festivals when, in Temple times, Jews ascended to Jerusalem. It is observed after the Jews complete a seven-week count beginning on the second day of...
Shavuot and Jerusalem: Revelation Then and Now
On June 15, 1967, Rabbi Norman Lamm delivered a lecture at The Jewish Center on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It was the second day of the festival of Shavuot and five days after the Six-Day war had ended. In his passionate speech,...
Shavuot: Receiving the Torah and Saving the World
In the story of Creation, God ends every day by noting the day and saying it was good. The formula established on the first day reads, “And there was evening and there was morning, a first day” (Genesis 1:5). One notable divergence is...
The Portion of Re’eh
This week’s portion focuses on changes which will take place upon the people’s entry into Israel. First, they are told to wipe out all forms of idolatry which remain from the land’s previous inhabitants. They are then told God will set...
The Portion of Pinchas
Our portion picks up where last week’s left off, in the aftermath of a plague. Phineas is blessed by God for his actions and a new census of the people is taken. The brotherless daughters of Zelophehad appeal to Moses for a share in the...
The Portion of Emor
The portion of Emor continues many of the same themes found thus far in the book of Leviticus. It expands upon the laws of the priest which set him apart from the rest of the community, as well as those that apply only to the High Priest....
