Organ Donor Shabbat

This Shabbat, Friday, April 14, 2023 at 7:00 p.m., is our Organ Donor Shabbat. Organ donation is central to Judaism as one of our tenets is “Pikuach Nefesh.” Jewish tradition considers saving human life — pikuach nefesh in Hebrew — to be among the highest ethical obligations. Saving one life,...

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Leave It to The Kids

This week alone we have read about a school shooting in Nashville, mass protests in Israel around agonizing and anti-democratic proposals, tainted drinking water in Philadelphia, the continued escalation of violence in Ukraine and a tornado that brought havoc to many residents of Mississippi. All of this, on top of...

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Tell the Full Story

This week we begin the Book of Leviticus. It’s the third book of the Torah and often considered an archaic and challenging book. It relays, among other things, the details around the ritual sacrifices our ancestors made in the earliest days of Judaism. We read about the sacrifices that existed...

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Vayak’heil P’kudei

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...

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The Kids Will Save Us

I spent this weekend in DC with a fantastic group of tenth graders from our congregation. We were there as part of the Religious Action Center’s L’Taken program, which teaches teens about advocacy, Jewish values, and how to speak truth to power. In addition to various programs on the issues,...

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Extremism is a Problem

Like you, I watched the Super Bowl. It was a great game: dramatic, close, wrought with emotion and subplots. Like you, I was disappointed by the outcome. We were so close! Now we Eagles fans wait until next year and hope we get another shot at glory.  As always, there...

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Parashat Mishpatim

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...

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