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Jun 25, 2026, 6:38 AM

From Detours to Destiny: Finding the Authentic Voice in Parashat Balak

I am very proud to have my daughter be a “guest” writer this week. Avigail, is being ordained as a rabbi this Thursday afternoon, joining her brother, a Conservative rabbi and sister, a Reform rabbi. She is seen here...

Jun 19, 2026, 5:29 PM

Why Was Moses Not Destined to Enter the Land? (Chukat)

It is one of the most perplexing, even disturbing, passages in the Torah. Moses the faithful shepherd, who has led the Israelites for forty years, is told that he will not live to cross the Jordan and enter the...

Joseph C. Kaplan

Jun 18, 2026, 11:59 PM

That Best Portion of a Person’s Life

A few short weeks after my back surgery, my wife, Sharon, had toe surgery, leaving us with a total of two good feet between us. The surgeries brought us closer together in one way, since, after mine, she drove...

Jun 12, 2026, 5:27 AM

Power versus Influence (Korach, Covenant & Conversation)

The Korach rebellion was an unholy alliance of individuals and groups united by their grievances with Moses’ leadership. There was Korach himself, a member of the tribe of Levi, angry (according to Rashi) that he had not been given...

Jun 5, 2026, 6:21 AM

Beyond the Fringe (Shelach Lecha, Covenant & Conversation)

Our Torah portion ends with one of the great commands of Judaism – tzitzit, the fringes worn on the corners of our garments as a perennial reminder of our identity as Jews and our obligation to keep the Torah’s commands: The...

Jun 2, 2026, 12:31 AM

Talking to One’s Self – Naso 5786

So, it smashed everywhere. My beautiful blue bowl, my favorite bowl filled with warm oatmeal, fell off the table, spraying clay pottery and oatmeal all over the floor, the table, and my suit. I was a mess, and I was in...

May 21, 2026, 10:32 AM

What Counts? (Naso, Covenant & Conversation)

This week’s sedra begins with a continuation of the census begun in last week’s – the act that gives the entire book its English name: the book of “Numbers.” Two things, though, are puzzling. The first is the very...

May 21, 2026, 10:22 AM

A Commencement Address for Us All: Shavuot 5786

This is the season of commencement addresses. Across the country, graduates are putting on caps and gowns, there is one person in the family taking far too many photographs for the rest of the family’s liking, and distinguished speakers...

May 15, 2026, 4:43 AM

Love as Law, Law as Love (Bamidbar, Covenant & Conversation)

On the face of it the connections between the sedra and haftara of Bamidbar are slender. The first has to do with demography. Bamidbar begins with a census of the people. The haftara begins with Hosea’s vision of a...

May 7, 2026, 8:45 PM

The Chronological Imagination (Behar-Bechukotai)

I want, in this study, to look at one of Judaism’s most distinctive and least understood characteristics – the chronological imagination. Sometimes a modern discovery so changes our ways of looking at things that it allows us to revisit ancient...

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