Ki Tisa – ‘Sin’ and the Western Sephardim
I used to think of the significance of Torah portion of Ki Tisa as being about the sin of the Golden Calf, and of how the people turned away from […]
I used to think of the significance of Torah portion of Ki Tisa as being about the sin of the Golden Calf, and of how the people turned away from […]
Moshe Rabbenu, the great leader of the Exodus, is so prominent in the Torah, that once born, there is henceforth nearly no Torah portion in which he does not appear, […]
The Torah contains laws that govern slavery, whether captured in war or enslaved to pay off debts. In fact, it is no secret that Sephardim owned slaves. This is particularly […]
There are different customs with regards to standing or sitting during the Ten Commandments. The source of the standing/sitting debate is anchored in a Mishna. Tamid 5:1 states that originally […]
The practice of newborn male circumcision is synonymous with Jews and Judaism. The Torah records that the commandment of this procedure was first directed at Abraham and his family. Since […]
I finally feel like the proverbial Jew. For the first time in my life I am an immigrant! All joking aside, Jews are accustomed to relocating, whether forced to do […]
In 1751 a bell was cast. The work was carried out by the firm Lester and Pack, today named Whitechapel Bell Foundry, located just a few blocks away from London’s […]
In the face of his son’s deaths Aaron was silent, ‘vayidom Aharon’ (Vayikra 10:3). We don’t really know what he felt, whether anger, intense pain, or sadness, or perhaps a combination […]
The seeming repetition of the construction of the Mishkan provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon its architecture and what we can learn from it. There were essentially two […]
The recent passing of Leonard Nimoy z’l occurred at a fitting time in the Jewish calendar. Nimoy played the iconic character Spock in the hit series Star Trek, the most […]