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PARSHA POSTS: TETZAVEH

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Mar 11, 2026, 7:10 PM

Assembling the Entire Community: Va-Yakhel/Pekudei

The irony of this week’s double parsha is not lost on me. I am writing these words from the mamak—the merhav mugan komati, the safe room on my floor. Each floor in our building has three such shelters, which must make...

Reuven Chaim Klein

Mar 4, 2026, 12:12 AM

Naming the Queen – Esther & Hadassah

After Achashverosh gets rid of his wife Vashti and begins the search for a new queen, the Scroll of Esther introduces the heroine of the Purim Story by stating that that a Jewish man named Mordechai lived in Shushan,...

Mar 2, 2026, 10:47 PM

The Purim Blueprint: Breaking the Messiah Mindset

Esther and Mordecai the Blueprint for Diaspora Leadership Image Credit 17th Century Painting By Aert de Gelder (Public Domain)

As we enter into Purim I want to comment on a chronic illness of the Jewish people. The Messiah Mindset: a phenomenon that has seen Jewish inaction under the guise that someday the Messiah will come and uplift us...

Mar 1, 2026, 6:00 PM

Tetzaveh 2026 — When no one is watching

Year 2026. A woman works in a public hospital. In a saturated city. Long shifts. Crowded corridors. Screens glowing. Constant alarms. Everything runs. Everything demands. Everything presses. She does too. She follows protocols. Fills in forms. Changes shifts. Answers messages. Takes calls. Smiles...

Ximena Silberman Herzberg

Mar 1, 2026, 1:50 PM

Our Friends and Neighbors

And here we go again. The already too familiar sound of the siren interrupted our morning coffee on Shabbat morning, and we immediately understood: another round is coming. We have basically been at war for two and a half years...

Feb 28, 2026, 11:37 PM

Parashah Tetzaveh — Existential Lessons

There is a kind of fidelity that cannot be seen. It does not appear in photographs. It does not generate stories. It receives no applause. It exists in the everyday. In getting up when you do not want to. In doing your duty...

Feb 27, 2026, 7:20 PM

Shalom Brothers: Men and Masks (Tetzaveh)

Men are often met as uniforms before they are met as human beings. We read the “outside” first: the job title, the competence, the calm voice, the jokes, the silence, the muscle, the dad-energy, the “I’m fine.” We take...

Feb 27, 2026, 7:10 PM

Paying It Forward: A Purim Lesson in a Snowstorm

We have an amazing love for our fellow Jew. Recently, we experienced snowstorms like we have not seen in years, with over two feet of snow falling in Brooklyn. Trying to shovel that amount of snow from your driveway...

Richard Diamond

Feb 27, 2026, 6:54 PM

Stagecraft as Sacred Pedagogy: What Purim Teaches About Teaching Truth

Click to see full infographic
Image by Google Notebook

On Purim, Judaism does something daring. It turns the synagogue into a theater. We boo villains. We cheer heroes. We dress in costume. We feast. We drink. We deliver food baskets like props in a communal drama. The reading of the...

Alexander Seinfeld

Feb 27, 2026, 6:42 PM

Clothes Encounters of the Jewish Kind?

11 Adar 5786 • Tetzaveh (Exod 27-30). Last week's message was about your skin. This week's is about the trouble we humans take to cover our skin. In every culture, clothes are a uniform — they broadcast your tribal affiliation. Just look at how people around you dress...

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