July 29, 2010 | Ekev

Life Reflections

A Pre-Seder Pesach Prayer

Blessed be all those who attended to the logistics that make a Seder possible, especially, the women who, for centuries, did it all by themselves. Because making the home ready for Pesach includes: Cleaning the house, including closets and windows; Getting clothes for everyone in the family and...

Customs

In 1961, I was returning from my first trip to Israel. At JFK at that time, there was a balcony, with a glass wall, from which people could watch arriving passengers go through customs. My father z”l, the traditional conservative rabbi, watched as I went through the required interrogation. I...

Dispatch from a Normal State

Sitting here in Jerusalem, just waiting for the pre-Shabbat siren, I realize something has changed. I've been here many times, shared this holy place with my wife, my children, my parents, and now my extended family, some of whom have made Aliyah. But something is different this time. The...

The Power of a Jewish Voice

Nicholas Patruno has written that: "[During the Sho'ah, the Nazis' attempts at] the suppression of language served as a cruel reminder that there would be no voice left to tell. ...But in Auschwitz, Primo Levi soon concluded that his survival, in physical and moral terms, depended largely on his...

Dynamic Connections: The Theology of the Runaway Bunny

The children's classic "The Runaway Bunny", written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd, might seem an odd place to begin a theological reflection. The Runaway Bunny begins with a young bunny who decides to run away: "'If you run away,' said his mother, 'I will run after you....

Jewish Elasticity and Values

Elasticity describes a ratio of change, a useful tool whose work is independent of units. To measure a ratio of change is to come to terms with the specific language and factors in any given situation before stating an observation. It is a brave thing to step into this world of elasticity, where...

Women on a Beit Din

In the fifth year of rabbinical school, Rabbi Joel Roth had typically requested that soon-to-be ordained female rabbis not sit on Batei Din. (During my fifth year Rabbi Roth was teaching at the Conservative Yeshiva, and so Rabbi Mayer Rabinowitz was the instructor.) I felt then, and feel even...

A Prayer for Thanksgiving 2008: "Reaching for Gratitude"

Dear God: On a day in which the needs of the world have suddenly gained urgency yet again, in which the internal sense of stability in our country is increasingly fragile, we turn to You. Today is a day for invoking gratitude. But today, when we sit at the table with cherished friends and...

Spiritual Authority in a Participatory Congregation

In a world of individual empowerment, what is the place for authority? Is there one? Should there be? Inherited faith traditions locate the source of religious authority in text, the heavens, or a religious leader. Something tangible and limited. That is likely not the way our communities...

Kisses and Memory

Yom HaShoah VeHagevurah 5768: "Kisses and Memory" Rabbi Menachem Creditor There are days in which the simplest things carry incalculable meaning. Today is one such day. Yom HaShoah VeHagevurah, our Day of Holocaust and Heroism, amplifies every experience of life to a heightened place. A...

About Ekev

Parshat Ekev

The concept of teshuvah, repentance, is a given in traditional Jewish circles: One who sins before God has the inalienable right to repent and to be absolved. Nevertheless, an analysis of the Torah indicates that such a theology might be absent from the text. In this week’s portion, Ekev, Moses...read more

About Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld
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My video divrei Torah on parasha Ekev by Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gTQopsAJnY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcRu3tjoBkQread more

About Jonathan Ginsburg
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Al Kustanowitz

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Al Kustanowitz is a marketing consultant in the computer and publishing industries. He is the Aba of three extremely talented children and the Saba of three brilliant (and cute) grandchildren. When he's not writing divrei Torah he is Blogger-in-Chief at Jewish Humor Central. Start every day with...

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