D'var Torah
01/28/2020 08:21:04 PM
"Reading the Signs"
Va'era
Friday, January 24, 2020
I used to think that Pharaoh might have relented sooner than he did during the Exodus story if God had not hardened his heart. According to our next two parashot, Va’era, which contains the first seven plagues, and Bo, which has the last three, Pharaoh hardens his own heart the first five times, and then God hardens it after the last five plagues. Perhaps Pharaoh would...Read more...
01/23/2020 05:55:04 PM
“A Blessing on Your Heads”
Vayechi
Friday, January 10, 2020
For most of their lives, my sons Michael and Jacob have been offered the same blessing every Friday night at dinner: Y’simcha Elohim k’Ephraim v’chim’nasheh—May God make you like Ephraim and Menasseh. Only since Olivia and Claudia came into our lives and our Shabbat table ten years ago have we needed the blessing for girls: Y’simech Elohim...Read more...
11/11/2019 03:32:06 PM
“We All Have a Name”
Lech L’cha
Friday, November 8, 2019
Cory is a strange name for a rabbi. A Google search seems to suggest that there are only two of us—the other being a rabbi for Aish HaTorah in Los Angeles. In the sixties, when I was born, the name came into vogue for a time, then left vogue. I am actually named for someone, I just don’t know who. You see, my Mom (like any good New York Jew) used to read...Read more...