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The Eternal Flame Within Us All - DT Tzav Berger
A Jew walks into a synagogue and looks around. What can s/he expect to see? An area for prayer that includes an ark that contains at least one Torah; perhaps a table, a bima, in front of the ark as a focus area for the prayer service and the Torah reading; and finally, a light, either attached to the top of the ark in some way or hanging from the ceiling.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/eternal-flame-within-us-all
Posted on: 2017/03/28 - 4:06pm
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Filling the Earth with God's Presence
Haftarah Yitro from last week includes words so important they were made part of the service: “Holy, holy, holy! All the earth is filled with the presence of the Lord of Hosts.”
Or it could be, if we made room for that presence.
Making room for God is a task set for us by all of Jewish teaching, and it is one whose details are included in Parashat Mishpatim.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/filling-earth-gods-presence
Posted on: 2016/05/06 - 10:45am
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Blueprint for a Full Jewish Life - DT Terumah Schein
Reprinted by permission of the Cleveland Jewish News.
This d’var Torah is one of a series influenced by the Me’am Loez Sephardic Torah commentary.
If we review briefly the last several parshiot of Exodus, we see an interesting pattern. We began with mythic moments of redemption from slavery and the revelation of the Torah in Bo, Beshalakh, and Yitro. Human beings cannot live without these moments, but living with them only is also impossible.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/blueprint-full-jewish-life
Posted on: 2018/02/09 - 3:35pm
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Four Lessons We Learn from Purim DT Purim Tepperman
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DT Vaykhi Mackenzie Reynolds 2016
The following is adapted from a d’var Torah given by RRC student Mackenzie Reynolds in early 2017 at a gathering of congregational presidents and rabbis at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, a Reconstructionist Synagogue in New York.
“If I have found grace in your sight, don’t bury me in Egypt,” Jacob asks of Joseph in this week’s parsha, Vay’khi. A midrash continues:
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/have-you-no-decency-midrash-and-centrality-love
Posted on: 2017/01/13 - 11:49am
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These Are The Names Shemot DT Micah B-K
The Book of Exodus, Shemot in Hebrew, begins with the listing of names. A recounting of “who is who” as a new era opens. While Genesis/Bereshit begins the Jewish journey following one family, as we begin Exodus, the narrative begins to be about a people emerging into being. This week’s portion continues some 375 years after the end of the Genesis text.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/these-are-names
Posted on: 2018/01/05 - 1:08pm
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Moses' Double Mission - DT Va'era Eron
This week’s Torah portion, Va’era, is set in Egypt. Moses has already returned from his exile in Midian. He has had his first and unsuccessful encounter with Pharaoh, who, in response to Moses’ request to allow the Israelites the opportunity to worship God in the wilderness, has placed additional burdens on the already overworked Israelite slaves. In addition to Pharaoh’s scorn, Moses’ own people abuse him for the troubles they believe he has brought upon them. Soon after it has begun, Moses’ mission already seems to have come to an end.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/moses-double-mission
Posted on: 2018/01/05 - 11:07am
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Joseph The Favorite Son DT Miketz
Joseph, the dreamer and interpreter of dreams, is the son of a dreamer. It is no surprise that he is Jacob’s favorite son. Young Jacob dreamed of a stairway reaching to heaven, traveled by angels. In a dream-like state, Jacob wrestled.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/joseph-favorite-son
Posted on: 2017/01/30 - 7:31pm
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Quality or Quantity? DT Hayey Sarah
“And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years; these were the years of the life of Sarah…” begins our Torah portion this week. Interestingly, Sarah’s age is not revealed with any sense of awe for the number of years she lived. Was there something different about the way our ancestors aged or counted? Or is there something we are missing in our reading of the story?
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/quality-or-quantity
Posted on: 2017/11/07 - 5:02pm
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Tamar the Hidden DT Vayeshev
Maybe the Torah is really Tamar’s story. Seen from that perspective, Judah’s interlude with Tamar is not an annoying interruption placed between Joseph’s sale into slavery and Joseph’s encounter with Potiphar’s wife. Maybe we need to know Tamar better. After all Psalm 92 tells us, tzaddik k’tamar - the wise/just are like Tamar. They are planted in the house of God, where they fruit and send out seed in order to tell of God’s uprightness.
So what does it mean to be like Tamar?
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/tamar-hidden
Posted on: 2017/12/03 - 7:44pm
