Parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim: Love your neighbor as yourself
The days between Pesach and Shavuot invite reflection, as Rabbi Akiva teaches that loving others is central to receiving the Torah.
Torah Portion
Shabbat Rosh Hodesh: At the threshold of renewal
Parashat Tazria-Metzora: Turning lemons into lemonade
Parashat Shmini: Guarding a pure heart
Parashat Emor: ‘Guest mode’
'This world is not mine. It existed before me and will continue after me...I have entered, as a guest, into a perfect system run by God.'
Parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim: ‘Holiness,’ ‘abstinence,’ and what lies between
Don’t aim for lofty, angelic separation “like Mine” but live a human holiness – the kind of life for which I created the world.
Parashat Tazria-Metzora: Skin afflictions as a warning sign
Just as a bad word can destroy, a good word can build – and that, after all, is the purpose of creation: “The world will be built with kindness.”
Parashat Shemini: Food of truth
Our portion lists four animals that lack one of the two signs of purity. The midrash associates these four animals with the four exiles the Jewish people have experienced over the generations.
Parashat Vayikra: Sacrifices, essence, and meaning
Someone who sins is meant to bring something of himself – his heart and emotions – and to experience a sense of closeness to God and love for Him through the offering.
Parashat Pekudei: Don’t walk away
We know who we are. They cannot fathom it. Our tireless efforts to explain may fall on deaf ears – but we hear, and we know.
