Dov Lerea, at The Blogs

Apply for a Blog

Jul 26, 2024, 8:34 PM

On Completing Kaddish for my Mother

Below is a transcript of my remarks: I would like to dedicate these thoughts to my mother’s memory, Roberta Lerea, laliyat nishmatah shel Rivka bat Sarah v’ Eliezer. I would like to speak for a few moments about Kaddish. I...

Apr 19, 2024, 10:08 PM

Pesach and the Fragility of Human Life

Preparing for Pesach is always intense in school. Students have prepared Haggadot and companions to Haggadot, Divre Torah (Torah teachings) and artwork to enhance their seder tables. The artworks are visual commentaries, demonstrating how students understand the mythic events...

Mar 20, 2024, 6:42 PM

A review of the film, “The Zone of Interest”

As a Zionist rabbi, I read with great interest David Klion’s review of Jonathan Glazer’s film, “The Zone of Interest,” in the NYT March 9, 2024. I agree completely with Mr. Glazer’s assessment of his own work, that this...

Mar 31, 2023, 11:47 PM

In Every Generation Pesach 5783 (short version)

The Haggadah lends expression to the natural inclination to seek revenge against our oppressors. Our sages acknowledged the need for us, as a weak and persecuted people generation after generation, to seek the destruction of those who enslaved, persecuted,...

Mar 30, 2023, 6:45 AM

In Every Generation They Rise up Against Us

Pesach 5783 This teaching is about suffering, compassion, humility, arrogance, a lens on Jewish historical experience, passages from the Haggadah, and a perspective on the spiritual work challenging the Jewish people today. The journey from enslavement, oppression and suffering to freedom...

Mar 23, 2023, 4:39 AM

Freedom Pesach 5783

In his book, Freedom, Sebastian Junger explains one theory about the etymological meaning of the word, “freedom:” The word freedom comes from vridom, which means, “beloved” in medieval German, and is thought to reflect the idea that only people in...

Mar 19, 2023, 6:49 AM

A World of Broken Pieces

Vayakhel/Pikude 26 Adar 5783 March 18, 2023 The double parasha describing the design, fashioning and construction of God’s sanctuary opens with a reiteration of the commandment to keep Shabbat, the Sabbath day: Moses then convoked the whole Israelite community and said to them:...

Mar 9, 2023, 4:24 AM

Purim 5783/2023

I am thinking about deeper and darker layers to Purim, layers that challenge us as a people to grow spiritually. Last Shabbat was Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat of Remembering. At the end of Parashat Ki Tetze in the Book...

Jan 7, 2022, 6:45 PM

Exile of the land, exile of the spirit

Parashat Bo Haftorah: Yirmitahu / Jeremiah 46:13-28 January , 2022/5 Shevat 5782 Last week in the haftorah for parashat VaEira, the prophet Ezekiel described the defeat of Egypt at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. In 605 BCE, Egypt, in an alliance...

Dec 31, 2021, 3:23 PM

Human arrogance can never defeat divine hope

Parashat VaEira Haftorah: Yechezk’el/Ezekiel 28:25 - 29:21, December 31, 2021/27 Tevet 5782 The haftorah describes Ezekiel’s prophecy against Egypt during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II in the late 7th and early 6th centuries BCE. Ezekiel lived during the period of the...

Load more

About Me

Rabbi Dov Lerea is currently the Head of Judaic Studies at the Shefa School in NYC. He has served as the Dean and Mashgiach Ruchani at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, as the Director of Kivunim in Jerusalem, as the Dean of Judaic Studies of the Abraham Joshua Heschel School in New York, and as the Director of Education at Camp Yavneh in Northwood, New Hampshire. Rabbi Dov has semicha from both JTS and YU. He is married and is blessed with sons, daughters-in-law, and wonderful grandchildren. He loves cooking, biking, and trying to fix things by puttering around with tools.