The Back and Forth of Torah and Our Lives
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Some weeks, in our exploration of the weekly Torah portion, we react to the events of the world immediately around us. Other weeks the Torah portion raises themes that apply to our lives or our Judaism on a more subtle, ongoing basis. This past Shabbat we read the final parashah (portion) from the […]
Guns.
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This week, for my weekly email to the congregation, I was planning to share the remarks I delivered this past Friday evening at TGIShabbat, when I spoke about the racist massacre in a Buffalo, New York grocery store on the basis of, according to some iterations, an antisemitic conspiracy theory. The […]
Creating a Palace in Time Amidst the Whirlwind of the World
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar A couple of months ago I underscored the idea, using Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s famous turn of phrase, that Shabbat is meant to be a palace in time: immune to the whims and vagaries of the weekday rhythms, the trials and tribulations we encounter on a daily basis, the ups and […]
Reflecting on the Meaning to be Found in Counting
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar In our Saturday morning Torah discussion last week, held weekly from approximately 10:30-11 am as part of our Shabbat service, having recently been enriched by the additional, weekly participation of our Hebrew School students, we discussed Parashat Emor, the Torah portion known as “Emor,” Hebrew for “Speak!” with Adonai telling Moses to […]
The Juxtaposition of Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Today marks Yom Ha’atzmaut, Independence Day in Israel, coming on the heels of Yom Hazikaron, shorthand for Yom HaZikaron LeHalalei Ma’arakhot Yisrael ul’Nifge’ei Pe’ulot HaEivah, Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers of the Wars of Israel and Victims of Actions of Terrorism, which is commemorated the day immediately before Yom Ha’atzmaut. This juxtaposition has a […]