Reflections on Ritual and Prayer

From the desk of our Ritual Director Gordon Goldman

• WHY SHALT THOU NOT COVET
  WHAT IS SO BAD ABOUT COVETING? Every year, some time in mid-winter, we read parshat Yitro which, most famously, contains the “Aseret HaDivrot” what most of the Judeo-Christian world calls the Ten Commandments. It has been said that all the other 603 mitzvot can be derived from these ten utterances. It has also been said that ...
• LECH L’CHA: WHAT IS AVRAM REALLY SUPPOSED TO BE DOING
  LECH L’CHA: WHAT IS AVRAM (LATER AVRAHAM) REALLY SUPPOSED TO BE DOING In the third parasha in the book of B’reishit (Genesis) God tells Avram (chapter 12 verse 1) “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land I will show you”. The language in the Torah lech l’cha, “Go… for ...
• OUR HUMANITY IN THE SEASON OF TESHUVAH
  HUMANITY IN THE SEASON OF TESHUVAH   The last few verses of Psalm 146, which we recite every morning as part of P’sukei D’Zimra tell us Adonai frees the bound Adonai gives sight to the blind Adonai raises those bowed down, and loves the just Adonai protects the stranger, supports the widow and the orphan, But frustrates the desire of the wicked. These ...
• FINDING TORAH AND INSPIRATION IN ADVERSITY
  FINDING TORAH AND INSPIRATION IN ADVERSITY My wife and I, along with several other people from our community, traveled to Israel recently for a wedding. Most of the people reading this essay have heard all or parts of the story of this trip/adventure. The war with Iran broke out. Our eight-day trip became eighteen days. The ...
• WHY READ THE BOOK OF RUTH DURING SHAVUOT?
  HOW ARE MEGILLAT RUTH AND SHAVUOT CONNECTED There are several holidays when one the “megillot” included in the Ketuvim section of the TaNaKh, (the Hebrew Bible) is read in conjunction with the holiday. Most notably is the reading of the book of Esther during Purim. We also read Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) at the end of Sukkot and ...
• REFLECTION ON PESACH
  REFLECTIONS ON PESACH Passover (Pesach) is an intriguing, and, in some ways conflicting) holiday. Some people get so absorbed in the physical preparations that they forget the real religious aspect of what we are observing and celebrating. All the folks (sadly, mostly women) who are responsible for the pre-Pesach cleaning, shopping and food preparation feel so ...
• TERUMAH: MAKING A SACTUARY FOR GOD TO DWELL WITHIN US
  TERUMAH: MAKE FOR  ME A SANCTUARY (How does this apply today) At the beginning of Parashat Teruma, starting at Shemot (Exodus) Chapter 25, God tell Moses to tell the Israelite people to bring God gifts as their hearts move them. These gifts of various valuables whether precious metals, cloths, fragrant oils and the such are to be ...