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Birth of Humility - Tazria DT SCR
This week is one of the least popular bar or bat mitzvah portions in all the Torah. It is filled with laws for how to recognize and treat leprosy when it is found on one’s body, one’s clothes or in one’s home. Most kids are a bit squeamish about skin diseases, so they search for anything else in the portion that they might talk about.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/birth-humility
Posted on: 2017/04/24 - 4:36pm
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Tamar and Judah DT Vayeshev
There is so much wonderful meat for discussion in the Joseph story that it is easy to skip or skim the story of Judah and Tamar — or of Tamar and Judah — to get back to the next installment of Joseph in Egypt. Even when read with care, it is not an easy story. Briefly, Judah, fresh from telling Jacob that Joseph has been killed, marries a Canaanite woman and has three sons, the eldest of whom, Er, marries Tamar. Er is killed by God for some unstated fault.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/tamar-and-judah
Posted on: 2017/04/21 - 12:11pm
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Strange Fire DT Shemini Steve Nathan
Instead of a traditional d'var Torah on Parashat Shemini, I chose to write an original midrash about Nadav and Avihu. These two sons of Aaron the High Priest, after seeing Divine fire come down from heaven and devour the first sacrifice made in the newly-dedicated Mishkan (Sanctuary), decide to take matters into their own hands. They bring a “strange fire” before God, that God had not commanded them, and their punishment was to then be devoured by Divine fire.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/strange-fire-midrash
Posted on: 2017/04/17 - 11:47pm
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Reconstructionist Radio: The Passover Seder
This audio program, recorded in 1998, offers an overview of the structure, development and religious meanings of the haggadah and the Passover seder with Rabbis Joy Levitt and Richard Hirsh. It includes a special behind-the-scenes look at the Reconstructionist haggadah, A Night of Questions, and its accompanying music CD. This is an episode of Heart, Mind and Spirit: Reconstructionist Radio hosted by Rabbi Shawn Zevit.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/spoken-audio/reconstructionist-radio-passover-seder
Posted on: 2017/04/05 - 4:18pm
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Journalistic Ethics and Jewish Tradition - Audio
It is a fascinating time in the world of journalism right now; some might say unprecedented. With fake news proliferating and an antagonistic relationship between the White House and the press, the role of the media and factual reporting has never seemed more urgent. Can Jewish values inform the practice of journalism and journalistic ethics? Check out this conversation between Rabbi David A.
Posted on: 2017/03/23 - 8:00pm
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Shabbat Hagadol DT Howard Cohen
The Shabbat before Pesach is known as Shabbat HaGadol: The Great Shabbat. The special nature of the day is highlighted with a haftarah selected from the prophet Malachi. The words of this anonymous prophet (the name Malachi simply means “my messenger”), who lived around the middle of the 5th century BCE, are remarkably contemporary sounding. A closer look at what he has to say can be simultaneously comforting and frightening.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/shabbat-hagadol
Posted on: 2017/04/05 - 4:47pm
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Danger of Religious Fanaticism - DT Vayekhi
[Editor's note: This piece was written for Martin Luther King weekend several years ago, and refers to specific events occuring at the time it was written. However, its insights remain relevant over a decade later.]
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/danger-religious-fanaticism
Posted on: 2017/04/05 - 2:56pm
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My Brother's Keeper DT Vayishlakh Eron
Few conflicts are as significant in our lives as our struggles with those who are most close to us: the members of our family. Who we were, who we are and who we will become is most clearly seen in our relationships with our parents, our siblings, our spouses and our children. Our ability to move beyond our conflicts to an attitude of acceptance and affection is a measure of our growth as human beings. Our deepest felt experiences are those of familial love and loss, and alienation and reconciliation.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/my-brothers-keeper
Posted on: 2017/03/29 - 7:01pm
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Taking Down the Sukkah
These days, it doesn't take me very long to put up my sukkah. When it was new, it took me a while to figure out how the parts fit together, but now I have it down to a science. I lay the poles on the ground and connect them one by one to make the frame. Then I hang the tarpaulins that form the walls and place the bamboo mat on the top for the roof. When that's all done, I ask the kids to come in and decorate it.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/taking-down-sukkah
Posted on: 2017/03/29 - 5:55pm
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Symbolism of Rainbows - DT Noakh
In this week's parasha our attention is focused on Noah and his family's experience in the ark. The flood has subsided and the doors of the ark have opened. God has commanded Noah to exit the ark and to release the animals back into the world. (Genesis 8:15-19) God next declares that such a wholesale disaster will never be caused by God again. A covenant is established and God seals it by placing a rainbow in the sky: “This is the sign that I set for the covenant between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for all ages to come.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/symbolism-rainbows
Posted on: 2017/03/29 - 5:48pm
