The Lost Touch
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat during services, we collectively studied Parashat Tetsaveh, the Torah portion known as Tetsaveh, which means “You [Moses] shall instruct.” The portion falls in the last third of the Book of Exodus as Moses remains with God at Mt. Sinai, gathering instructions for the Israelites with regard to, among other topics, the […]
Getting in the Right Headspace
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past week during Shabbat services, we discussed the weekly torah portion, Terumah. Terumah means “gifts” and it refers to the gifts that the Israelite people were called upon to bring so that, collectively, they could facilitate the construction of the mikdash, “sanctuary,” from the word for holiness, or, alternatively, mishkan, “Tabernacle,” from the word for […]
Did Anyone Ever Teach You How to Pray? (Also, Blessings and Babies)
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Tonight I want to talk about the thing that has been happening all around us this evening: prayer. Prayer is paradoxically extremely central to Jewish life—it is in some ways the central activity that happens at any Jewish event: a Shabbat service, holidays, a lifecycle moment like a wedding or a […]
Revelation: Not Just a One Time Thing?
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat we studied Parashat Yitro, the Torah portion in the Book of Exodus known as Yitro, named after Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, who witnesses the intense burdens Moses is under, navigating the many disputes of the Israelites, and helps him organize a system of judges who can help adjudicate the minor […]
A Bat Mitzvah’s Teaching on Questions
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past weekend, for the second Shabbat in a row, we were fortunate to celebrate a beautiful Bat Mitzvah. Talia and her family celebrated in the sanctuary, on the Society Hill Synagogue Bimah, where multiple generations of this family have now become Bat Mitzvah. Talia’s parashah (Torah portion) was Beshallah. Beshallah means “in the sending forth” […]