Corporate Torah

Shabbat Tzav Dvar Torah - The Eternal Flame: A Light for Everyone In this week’s Torah portion, Tzav , we find a specific command regarding the Tabernacle: "A continuous fire shall burn upon the altar; it shall not go out."   For centuries in the Temple of Jerusalem, this flame was meticulously kept and never flickered out and in our times it’s the source for the Ner Tamid (the Eternal Light) present in every synagogue today. But there is a fascinating question: Why on the altar? There were other lights in the Temple, like the golden Menorah, which was kept in the more sacred space of the sanctuary. The altar, however, was different: Visibility: The altar was located outside in the courtyard. Its smoke and fire were visible for miles to anyone looking towards Jerusalem. Inclusivity:  The wood used for the altar’s fire could not become ritually impure, essentially enabling anyone to contribute to it. Universality:  The altar was the one place in the Temple where everyon...

Shabbat Vayikra Dvar Torah The book of Leviticus opens this week with a prescription of the various offerings brought in the Tabernacle. While animal sacrifice is foreign to the modern eye and its reconciliation with contemporary Judaism is a subject of fascinating philosophical discussion – the foundations of the Temple service are a core tenet of our observance. One such idea which is highlighted in this week’s portion is the universality of observance. In two places, the Torah show us that the privilege and obligations of our relationship with Hashem is not limited to a specific class of people. When introducing the sin offering, the Torah focuses first on special cases – the sin offering brought by the High Priest and the Nasi (essentially the king) – only later describing the offering brough by commoners. The message is clear, in a just society accountability starts at the top, and nobody is exempt from admission and atonement. Later, when introducing a sin offering broug...

Shalom Friends, These past few weeks have been a whirlwind for all of us in Israel - naturally bringing a hiatus to our regular Divrei Torah on this channel. Having a chance now to pause and reflect, I wanted to offer a brief dispatch from Israel and a continuation to our communal Torah learning. On Thursday we’ll celebrate the beginning of the Hebrew month of Nissan, the month of Passover and the beginning of spring. The Talmud teaches us that there is a special blessing recited only once a year in Nissan upon seeing fruit trees in blossom. Our Sages teach that there are two reasons for this blessing - firstly in recognition for the beauty of seeing trees in the wonderful colors of full blossom, and secondly in recognition for the wonder of creation that after the harsh cold of winter, the trees emerge into spring and bring forth new life. In essence, this blessing is an annual recognition highlighting the sublime in the cyclicality of our everyday existence. We stop for a moment...