Take a moment and think about your home. Why do you have the things you have, the artwork on the walls, the furniture you chose, the tablecloth you always set out for company? Some of us decorate for comfort, we want to feel at ease in our own space. Some of us follow a style we love. And ma…
There is a story told of two merchants who had been rivals for decades… same street, same trade, same town. They argued over prices, competed for customers, and whispered unfavorably about one another to anyone who would listen. One winter, a fire broke out and destroyed one merchant's sho…
This week's double portion, Tazria–Metzora, is among the most challenging in the Torah to teach, and precisely because of that, among the most important. It describes a mysterious skin condition called tzaraat, which generations of translators have rendered as "leprosy." It is not leprosy.…
Imagine a group of travelers making their way through a vast wilderness. Their guide, wise, experienced, chosen by the community itself, leads them confidently. One evening, he misreads the stars and they camp a mile off course. Some whisper, “Perhaps he was never fit to lead at all.” Bu…
Numbers in Jewish tradition tell stories. We ask four questions at the Seder because four highlights the range of possibility, it embraces every type of child, every corner of human experience, every base covered. We recite 10 plagues because 10 signals that something entirely new is about …
