Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. On this Yom Kippur edition of Parashah Talk we spend our time talking about Yom Kippur, Kol Nidrei, and forgiveness, among other things. Our hearts weigh heavily as we continue to think about and pray for the hostages in what is now their second year of captivity. May they be speedily returned to their families. May the soldiers in the Israel Defense Force be removed from harm’s way. May peace and quiet descend on all troubled places in the world in which we live. G’mar Hatimah Tovah. May your seal for the new year be ..read more

Amy Erlanger and Jamie Cosky interview campers about what being Jewish means to them ..read more

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Pinchas [Numbers 25:10–30:1] begins with the end of the story from the last nine verses of last week’s parashah. Pinchas is apparently rewarded by God with a b’rit shalom [covenant of peace]. because he stilled God’s kin‘ah [translated as zealousness or jealousy]. We spent most of our conversation trying to understand this enigmatic story, and how the story of Pinchas relates to other stories we know from the Bible. Because our conversation took place on Wednesday, the day after th Fast of the 17th of Tammuz ..read more

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. We are winding our way to the conclusion of our annual Torah Reading. This week’s parashah, Nitzavim-Va’yelekh [Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30] is the penultimate Shabbat reading. The following Shabbat, October 5, is Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; that weekly reading, Ha’azinu, concludes the Shabbat weekly readings on the annual cycle here in the Diaspora. The final parashah, V-zot Ha-b’rakhah [Deuteronomy 33-34] is read on Simhat Torah, this year celebrated on Friday, October 25, 2024. It i ..read more

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Ki Tavo [Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8] features, among other things, the ritual of the first fruits and the description of a one-time event to take place in the Land of Israel where the Israelites will assemble 6 tribes each on 2 mountains [Ebal and Gerizim for those of you keeping score] for a ritual recitation of blessings and curses that will descend on the people and the land, depending on the behavior of the Israelites. The text of the first-fruits ritual whose earliest date was the holiday of Shavuot was incor ..read more

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky . In the words of my friend and colleague Rabbi Eliot Malomet, Parashat Ki Tetze [Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19] is mitzvah dense, containing 74 out the 613 commandments the rabbis found in the Torah, well over 10%. In our conversations we tried to extract meaning from this welter of laws by thinking about the story or stories that might be embedded in them. Among the laws we actually discussed was the ben sorer u-moreh, the stubborn and rebellious son, and the command to erase Amalek from our memory. What would the Israelit ..read more

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Shoftim [Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9] ordinarily provides a lot of material for conversation and discussion. On his JPS Torah Commentary, Jeffrey Tigay divides the parashah into two: Civil and Religious Authorities [16:18-18:22] and Judicial and Miltary Matters [19:1-21:9]. Given the events of the past week, we turned to the haftarah [Isaiah 51:12-52:12] rather than the Torah reading for the framework of our conversation. We continue to be mindful of the remaining hostages and their families, and the men and women ..read more

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Re’eh [Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17] is the fourth parashah in Deuteronomy. After a few introductory verses, the parashah begins the lengthy section Jeffrey Tigay entitles “The Laws Given in Moab”, which continues through the next few weeks to parashat Ki Tavo, read on September 21. Deuteronomy is perhaps best known for its commandment to centralize the cult in the Temple in Jerusalem, with the concomitant destruction of all the local sanctuaries. This centralization requires the reformulation of the holidays amon ..read more

Welcome to Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky.Parashat Eqev [Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25] is the third parashah in the Book of Deuteromony. Among its verses are the 7 species [8:8] which distinguish the Land of Israel, the verse [8:9] which is incorporated into the Grace after Meals and provides the halakhic [Jewish legal] basis for its recitation, and the 2nd paragraph of the Shema [11:13–21], with its theme of Reward and Punishment. Our conversation, as it often does, meanders from topic to topic. Among other things, we discussed the importance of the land ..read more

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Va-etchanan [Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11] contains, among other passages, the second version of the 10 Commandments, as remembered by Moshe 40 years after they were given at Sinai [Exodus 20], and the first paragraph of the Shema, the great credal statement of Judaism, together with a pssage from next week [Deuteronomy 11:13-21, the 2nd paragraph], and a passage from Numbers [15:37-41, the 3rd paragraph]. In addition, there are a number of verses which have entered the Jewish liturgy, two in the Torah service, one ..read more