On Choice, Community, and the Next Chapter of Greater Naples Jewish Life

This week's double portion, Nitzavim-Vayelech, opens with one of the most inclusive moments in the Torah: "You are standing here today, all of you." Moses gathers the entire nation, leaders and tribal heads alongside the woodchopper and the water drawer (Deuteronomy 29:9-10), to enter into c…

Curses, Clarity, and Flags

Parshat Ki Tavo contains the tochecha, the Divine rebuke read in Deuteronomy 28; verse after verse of what will befall the people if they abandon the covenant. It is a painful passage in the Torah to read aloud, and tradition in fact has us lower our voices as we chant the words.

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But tuc…

We Must Not Remain Indifferent

Parashat Ki Teitzei is famously dense with commandments, the Rabbis count 74 of the 613 mitzvot charged within it, more than any other parashah. Amid this myriad of laws sits a quiet but powerful teaching: the mitzvah of hashavat aveidah, returning a lost object. In Deuteronomy 22:3 the Tora…

The Tree We Are, The Restraint We Owe

This week's Torah portion, Shoftim, provides us insight into a law that at first glance seems incredibly dated and irrelevant. In the middle of instructions about warfare, we're told that when one besieges a city, we may not destroy its fruit-bearing trees. The Torah asks, almost incredulous…

Being a Partner with Gd

Some weeks, finding a natural connection between the Torah portion and our work at Federation takes some digging. This week, it didn’t. Parashat Re'eh gives us one of the Torah's clearest calls to care for those in need: "If there is a needy person among you... do not harden your heart or sh…