SB Right – 3 Column
Tetzaveh
Last Shabbat we learned about the phrase, ”Humanly holy”; a phrase taught by the Kotzker Rabbi. The Kotzker taught that each of us holds a portion of the Mishkan, the Sanctuary built for God’s Presence on earth, in our hearts – and we create that mini-Mishkan by bringing holiness into our own choice about our […]
Terumah
Details, details, details – such is the stuff of life and certainly of Torah. We seemingly spend acres of ink – and time – to parse out what all these details signify, both in meaning and practice. I spoke on Shabbat about Torah being the social media of its day – where we learned together […]
Mishpatim
Although I am not a lawyer, Mishpatim will always be a favourite and memorable Torah reading for me. This was the parashah of my conversion, my birth-day, if you will, and I hold each specific memory of that time in 1992 as a jewel in my mind. Judaism is not anarchist by nature; our halachah […]
Yitro
Some of you asked me to post the recording of the Moroccan Cantor singing the Shir HaYam: שירת הים – מילים, ביצועים, פירושים ותווים | אתר הפיוט והתפילה And, speaking of links, here is my link to the Spiritually Speaking column in The Times Colonist that was printed this past Shabbat: https://www.timescolonist.com/blogs/spiritually-speaking/finding-your-own-faith-can-be-an-inspiration-to-the-faithful-4959224 Kolot Mayim is busy […]
B’Shallach
This week we cross over the sea from Mitzrayim, to begin our trek towards freedom, Sinai, towards becoming a people in Covenant with God. We will soon shift in our story from individual covenant to God holding covenant with the entire people Israel. B’Shallach includes the Shir haYam, the Song of the Sea, for which […]
Bo
Over these past few days I have had a chance to catch up on some reading – I actually read a few books. I uploaded several to Kindle: Jews Don’t Count by David Baddiel, a British stand-up comedian who addresses anti-Semitism within the progressive left, and People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn. I highly recommend both books. […]
Vayera
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose… as we might say in Canada. In Egypt, Pharaoh struggles to maintain and hold his power, even as his sorcerers are no match for Moses, aided by the Divine One. And just as the ancient Israelites may have lost sight of the covenant promised to their ancestors, […]
Shemot
The Book of Exodus, or Shemot is a saga of survival in a strange land. The Israelites are now firmly established in the land of Egypt, and things are now not going so well. A new Pharaoh, (subsequent to the Pharaoh who had sat rocking on the porch with Yaakov, who had given the Israelites welcome and […]
Ki Tissa
February 14, 2022 by Rabbi Lynn Greenhough • From the Rabbi's Desk Tags: golden calf, ki tissa •
There is civil disobedience and there is just plain disobedience. This week, as we read Ki Tissa, we face into some of the precipitating factors that led the Israelite people to melt down gold and build the Golden Calf – and hedonistically dance around said calf in the absence of Moses. Moses was gone forty […]