Kenneth Brander

President and Rosh HaYeshiva, Ohr Torah Stone

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May 13, 2025, 5:27 PM

Haftarat Parshat Emor: Can Anyone Be a Kohen?

Can someone become a Kohen, even if they were not born one? This week’s Haftarah invites us to think about what it really means to serve the Jewish People – not just in the holy places, but through bringing...

Apr 21, 2025, 4:39 PM

Haftarat Parshat Shemini: Who May Bless?

‘How can it be,’ David Hamelech asks in our Haftarah, ‘that I live in a palace of cedar wood, while the Aron Kodesh resides in a tent’? (II Samuel 7:2). With his kingdom in a stable position following years...

Apr 15, 2025, 6:59 PM

Pesach, Sacrifice and Shared Burdens

On Pesach, we celebrate freedom and survival. But we also remember the difficulty of the Exodus and the challenges along the way. This duality is central to the holiday and was powerfully embodied in many aspects of the Seder...

Apr 8, 2025, 1:45 AM

Not ‘Where is God?’ — but ‘Where are we?’

Bereaved families, friends and Israeli soldiers visit the site of the Nova music festival massacre in Re'im forest near the Israeli-Gaza border, on Memorial Day, May 13, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Only through a quest to find meaning in our actions and relationships can we begin to glimpse God in the world

Mar 25, 2025, 2:58 AM

Haftarat Parshat Pekudei / Hachodesh: The Evolving Korban Pesach

With Pesach just around the corner, we read Parshat Hachodesh, which recounts the original Korban Pesach offered as the Jewish people awaited their redemption from Egypt. Each family took a lamb into their home, placing the blood on their...

Mar 17, 2025, 11:44 AM

Haftarat Parshat Parah: From Spiritual Impurity to Redemption

With Pesach on the horizon, we read Parshat Parah, which details the rules of ritual purification required to enter the Beit Hamikdash and offer the Korban Pesach (Paschal sacrifice). The Torah spells out in great detail the purification process...

Mar 10, 2025, 3:45 PM

Haftarat Parshat Ki Tisa: Leadership Lessons from Moshe, Eliyahu and Esther

The parallels between our Parsha and our Haftarah, and between the lives of their respective protagonists, Moshe and Eliyahu, are significant. Following the reading of the story of the sin of the golden calf, most Jewish communities will hear...

Mar 3, 2025, 1:48 PM

Haftarat Shabbat Zachor: A Call to Our Collective Responsibility

Amalek is no longer. The Mishna (Yadayim 4:4) teaches us that Sancheriv, the Assyrian emperor, through his military campaigns and conquests created such upheaval among the various local nations – interspersing and intermixing them – that Amalek and the...

Feb 25, 2025, 12:31 AM

Haftarat Parshat Shekalim/Terumah: Giving and Receiving

This week’s learning has been dedicated for the refuah shleimah of Moshe Kranzler – Moshe Ben Maryam Yehudit When I was a student at Yeshiva University, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin was honored at the annual RIETS (rabbinical school) dinner for his...

Feb 17, 2025, 12:03 PM

Our place in this land

Crowds of supporters at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv await the release of Or Levy, Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami from Hamas captivity in Gaza. (Marcelo Sznaidman / Hostages Families Forum)

We Jews must reflect on our actions, not to blame ourselves for the tragedies perpetrated by others, but to emerge from them with greater strength (Mishpatim)

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About Me

Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander is President and Rosh HaYeshiva of Ohr Torah Stone, an Israel-based network of 32 educational and social action programs transforming Jewish life, living and leadership in Israel and across the world. He is the rabbi emeritus of the Boca Raton Synagogue and founder of the Katz Yeshiva High School. He served as the Vice President for University and Community Life at Yeshiva University and has authored many articles in scholarly journals.

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