D'var Torah

Last week we read the dramatic story of the giving of the Ten Commandments. There was thunder and fire and God’s voice booming from the mountain top. Good movies come from Parshiot like that one! This week we find ourselves in a completely different setting, Parashat Mishpatim, lacks...Read more...

“And so it was, when Pharoah let the people go, that God did not lead them by [the nearer way] … God led them in a round-about way [lit. God turned them around and around], by way of the wilderness.” (Exodus 13:17-18)

These are the opening lines of this week’s...Read more...

In this week’s Torah portion, Vaeira, we hear part of the dramatic Exodus story: Moses’s quest for freedom for his people, Pharaoh’s hardened heart throughout the first seven plagues, and the emotions of fear, anticipation, suspense, and hope. When will Pharaoh let the Israelites...Read more...

In this week’s Torah portion, we witness the remarkable summing up of a life and the passing down of a family legacy.  As Jacob blesses each of his twelve sons, he addresses the lives and the actions of every one of them, and he does not hide his...Read more...

As our dark nights become longer, we have the opportunity to increase the light in the coming days as we acknowledge the miracle of Chanukah. We celebrate light,...Read more...

This week’s Torah reading, Vayishlach, focuses on the second half of the life of Jacob. In the past few weeks, we have read about his early life, his feud with his brother Esau and his flight to his uncle, Laban, whose daughters, Leah and...Read more...

This week, Jews around the world will read the Torah portion Toldot, which means “generations.” Among other things, this portion uncovers many challenging family dynamics. We read the stories of Rebecca and Isaac, and Jacob and Esau. There is lying and...Read more...

Dear Friends,

This week’s Torah portion reads like a soap opera. Vayera (Genesis 18:1-22:24) contains the story of Sodom and Gemorah, Sarah having Isaac late in life, and the Akeidah -- the...Read more...

Shanah Tovah! I hope you had a fulfilling and meaningful High Holy Days. Now that we have begun the Torah reading cycle again from the beginning, after Simchat Torah, it is remarkable how quickly we are taken through the most memorable stories...Read more...

Dear TRS Family, Shanah Tovah! It was so wonderful to see so many of you over Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as we brought in the new year of 5785 together. We were so moved by the time we...Read more...

In this week’s Torah Portion, we find Moses on the last day of his life, addressing the Israelites for one final time. Though we have had many chapters of Moses speaking to the Israelites, this one is the only one that is sung. Using his final breaths, Moses choses to teach with song. There are only two other times in the...Read more...

One could say that this week’s portion, Ki Tavo, is a study in biblical behavior management. As Moses nears the end of his Herculean effort to prepare the Israelites to be faithful to their covenant with God, he seems to try every way he knows to encourage, entice, guilt and...Read more...

Dear Friends,

The events of this week in Gaza and Israel have been so difficult, with the tragic deaths of the six Israeli hostages, including 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who lived for a few years in Richmond, before moving to Israel. He, along with 5...Read more...

This week’s parasha is a continuation of last week’s speech by Moses to the Israelites as they are about to leave him and enter the Promised Land.  This week he tells them that, if they maintain their covenant with God by observing all the commandments, God will...Read more...

This week’s Torah portion, d’varim, launches us into the book of Deuteronomy, the last book of the Torah. Deuteronomy (which means “second telling” — “d’varim,” the Hebrew name, means “words”) is largely a retelling of the Israelites’ wilderness journey,...Read more...