December 12, 2009 12:28 am Mighty heroes and their clothes on Shabbat Chanukah Shabbat Chanukah I, Parshat Vayeshev, Gen. 37:1-40:23; Maftir, Num. 7:1-17: Haftarah, Zechariah 2:14-4:7 In this week’s Torah reading, Jacob’s sons Judah and Joseph display heroic qualities of honesty, loyalty, and what we might call personal leadership. In Chapter 38, Judah’s daughter-in-law Tamar poses as a prostitute to get Judah to impregnate her so that she […] By Rabbi Gerald Friedman
July 3, 2009 1:59 pm Parshat Chukat-Balak “Vayivku et Aharon shloshim yom, kol beit Yisrael.” And they cried over Aaron (mourned his passing) for 30 days, the entire house of Israel. This text from Parshat Chukat tells us that all the people – men and women, even children – mourned the death of Aaron HaKohen. In contrast, only the men mourned Moshe […] By Rabbi Gerald Friedman