This Shabbat, we again read a double portion, Tazria/M’tzora. We are introduced to the very complex and difficult concept in the religious life of Bnai Yisrael/Children of Israel: ritual purity and impurity. These categories are strange for us as 21st century Jews. There are very traditional members of the Jewish...
Double Sidrah of Biblical “Legos,” Fabrics, Equipment, and Instructions for Assembly. SHIR KI Returns to Verizon Hall! We have arrived at the end of Sefer Sh’mot, the Book of Exodus. In Synagogues around the world, two Torah portions are read this coming Shabbat morning. We have learned that there are...
Parashat Mishpatim: The First Corpus of Torah Laws; Composer Benjamin Steinberg, Z”L; The Jews of Panama Last Shabbat, Jews the world over studied Parashat Yitro, including the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments function as a transition from beginning Jewish history to Biblical laws teaching the Jewish people how to behave...
Parashat Va-Eira: Four Divine Promises of Redemption And The First Six Plagues. Holocaust Remembrance Shabbat. The Torah portion of Va-eira “And I Appeared (to Avraham)” is the first of four Sidrot/portions depicting G-d’s most active and aggressive intervention in the lives of the Jewish people, encompassing the Ten Plagues, the...
Joseph, the Interpreter of Dreams, and Lighting the Candles for Hanukkah, Nights 5-8 We all experience two kinds of dreams: involuntary dreams that occur when we sleep, and aspirational dreams that motivate our personal and professional goals and pursuits throughout our personal and professional lives! Joseph understood and experienced both!...
Noah and The Flood Home Run Shabbat The weekly Torah portion NOACH, the second portion in the Book of Bereshit/Genesis, is well known to all. Young children in our religious school have learned at a very young age about Noah, his unnamed wife, and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and...
The High Holy Day Season is here! Every department at KI is preparing for High Holy Day activity. Religious school classes are beginning. The office is sending out High Holy Day tickets to our congregants. The facilities staff are preparing the Main Sanctuary, the Chapel, the parking lot, and the...
Parashat R’eih: The Pageant on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal; Once Again: The MiSinai Melodies in the High Holy Day Services We begin to study the portion R’eih, and we learn about a new educational methodology used by Mosheh Rabbeinu/Moses our Teacher, as he delivers his final teachings to the Children of...
Sefer D’varim: The Fifth Book of the Torah The Ninth Day of Av, Completing Vacation Season, and Preparation for the High Holy Days in Shir KI This Shabbat always marks the midpoint of the summer vacation season. The weather is still warm and the days are long. But as we...
Parashat Balak: The Talking She-Donkey; Ma Tovu; SHIR KI, Our Adult Choir, Begins Again, and The Choir Needs You! This week’s Torah portion is one of only two Sidrot/portions out of the over fifty in the complete Torah that is named for a non-Jew! The Torah portion of Balak teaches...
