Withdrawal as a Form of Love
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past week during Shabbat services (10 am prayer and song; 10:45 Torah study, every week at this link) we studied Parashat Terumah, the Torah portion known as Terumah which means gifts—Adonai, the Source of All Existence, invites the Israelites to bring gifts, “And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them” […]
Finding Wholeness in Brokenness
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past week during Shabbat services (10 am prayer and song; 10:45 Torah study, every week at this link) we studied Parashat Mishpatim, the Torah portion known as Mishpatim which means rules or enactments—a fitting title because this is the point in our Torah where the majority of the text shifts from narrative to law. Judaism […]
What Happened at Sinai and How It Impacts Us
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past week on Shabbat we encountered that sacred moment in our Torah when the Israelites find themselves at the base of Mt. Sinai, about to enter the eternal covenant with the Source of All Existence. Every imaginable sensation takes place to set the scene for this moment. “[A]s morning dawned, […]
What Crossing the Sea Really Means
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat we reviewed the parashah (Torah portion) featuring that ever-climactic moment in our sacred history: the crossing of the sea in culmination of our exodus from Egypt. And I say “our” very deliberately here. The crossing of the sea happened not only for our ancestors, but for us. Perhaps the central […]