Congregation Ohr Shalom - Summit JCC

An Impure Process

In a text as long and as old as the Torah, there are bound to be some wacky things. But of all the bizarre rituals in the Torah, perhaps none is stranger than the Red Heifer ceremony we read about this Shabbat. In Numbers 19, we learn that a completely red heifer—its hide, flesh, blood, and even its dung—was entirely burned, together with cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson thread....

An Impure Process In a text as long and as old as the Torah, there are bound to be some wacky things. But of all the bizarre rituals in the Torah, perhaps none is stranger than the Red Heifer ceremony we read about …

Shul Runnings

Shul Runnings. When my nephew told me that was the name of the Israeli bobsled team at this year’s Winter Olympics, I thought he was joking. The Israeli bobsled team may be the most unlikely team since the Jamaican team that inspired the movie, “Cool Runnings.” Nonetheless, I didn’t expect the Yiddish word for a synagogue to make its way into the Milan/Cortina games....

Shul Runnings Shul Runnings.  When my nephew told me that was the name of the Israeli bobsled team at this year’s Winter Olympics, I thought he was joking.  The Israeli bobsled team may be th…

Dignity

I once had a teacher in rabbinical school who liked to say that the weekly Torah portion always speaks to what is happening in the world. The challenge, he taught, is figuring out what it is trying to say. Some weeks, of course, that task is easier than others. In the third verse of this week’s Torah portion, B’shallach, we are told that when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, he took with him the remains of Joseph (Exodus 13:19)....

Dignity I once had a teacher in rabbinical school who liked to say that the weekly Torah portion always speaks to what is happening in the world. The challenge, he taught, is figuring out what it is trying…