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Retelling Our Story DT Devarim SCR

I was sitting in my study a few years ago with a couple who had been members of my synagogue for over 35 years. They were recounting a recent experience they had when celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, and it made me think about this week’s Torah portion.

https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/retelling-our-story

Posted on: 2017/07/21 - 6:28pm

Finding Your Voice DT Devarim Kligler

B’ever ha’Yarden b’eretz Moav ho’il Moshe be’er et hatorah hazot

בְּעֵ֥בֶר הַיַּרְדֵּ֖ן בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מוֹאָ֑ב הוֹאִ֣יל מֹשֶׁ֔ה בֵּאֵ֛ר אֶת־הַתּוֹרָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את

On the far side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this Torah (Deuteronomy 1:5)

https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/finding-your-voice

Posted on: 2017/07/21 - 6:37pm

It Reached No Further DT Va'et'khanan Howard Cohen

This week, we listen in as Moshe continues his farewell address to the Israelites. His focus shifts to what the people must remember and honor as their foundational principles: namely, the numerous laws, edicts and assorted teachings. In particular, Moshe emphasizes the Aseret HaDibrot, the Ten Commandments, and thus they are repeated here. These can safely be described as the quintessential universal biblical teaching, since they are readily embraced by all religions with their taproot in the Hebrew Bible.

https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/it-reached-no-further

Posted on: 2017/07/28 - 10:26am

Our Sustaining Hope - - Eron DT Va'et'khanan Nachamu

The great miracle of Jewish survival is not that we survived great tragedies. It is that we survived as a community ever faithful to its vision of a better world for us and for all people and not as an angry and embittered tribe.

When we look at Jewish responses to the tragedies of our past, what emerges is that despite the great disasters, the unbelievable suffering, the unbearable pain, and the overwhelming sense of loss, we never believed that our God abandoned us. We never gave up hope.

https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/our-sustaining-hope

Posted on: 2017/07/28 - 10:32am

Shabbat Naḥamu - DT Va'et'khanan Richard Hirsh

The summer cycle of scriptural readings revolves around two sets of text. The first is the weekly cycle of readings which progresses through the final book of the Torah, Deuteronomy. The second is the ten week cycle of haftarot, or supplementary readings, selected from the writings found in the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, which orbit around the fast day of Tisha B’Av.

https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/shabbat-nahamu

Posted on: 2017/07/28 - 10:41am