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Uncovering Your Inner Star

09/26/2024 10:49:20 AM

Sep26

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

Rosh Hashanah is only a few days away (ready or not, here it comes!).  As we approach the new year of 5785, I have been thinking a lot about the shofar. The sound of the shofar comes from the inner breath. In a way, it is a reversal of the breath God breathed into Adam – “And He breathed into...Read more...

The Blessings That Will Make it a Good New Year 

09/18/2024 02:43:44 PM

Sep18

Rabbi Micah Peltz

The full moon is out, which means we are halfway through the month of Elul.  As we approach the end of the year, I keep thinking about a phrase from the Talmud.  In a discussion about the reading of the curses, known as the tokheha, in this week’s parashah, Ki Tavo, the Talmud says that the Torah reading schedule was set so that this portion is always read before Rosh Hashanah.  The reason:  k’day she’tikhleh shanah...Read more...

What have we lost, and what are we searching for?

09/12/2024 10:54:47 AM

Sep12

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

In this week’s Torah portion, Ki Teitzei, specifically in the first verses of Deuteronomy 22, we read about the mitzvah of hashavat aveidah -- returning something that has vanished from its owner. The Sefer HaHinukh, an anonymous work written in 13th century Spain, explains that the mitzvah of hashavat aveidah is particularly noteworthy because we all lose things sometimes. It is a sign of being human, after all.  However, I would like...Read more...

What can we do?

09/05/2024 09:49:58 AM

Sep5

Rabbi Micah Peltz

It has been difficult to find the words this week.  The news that reached us after Shabbat, that the remains of six hostages had been found, and the subsequent identification of them as Carmel Gat z"l, Ori Danino z"l, Eden Yerushalmi z"l, Alex Lobanov z"l, Almog Sarusi z"l, and Hersh Goldberg-Polin z’’l was heartbreaking.  Learning that they were executed by Hamas 2-3 days prior to being found made it even more devasting....Read more...

Seeing Ourselves - A Time for Introspection

08/29/2024 12:05:06 PM

Aug29

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

This week’s Torah portion, Re’eh, begins with the injunction: 

Re’eh, anohi notein leefnahem hayom, beracha u’kla-la See (re’eh), I set before you this day blessing and curse.
(Deuteronomy 11:26)

Why does the Torah use the word re’eh here?  It could have easily been omitted.  I set before you blessing and curse.  Why, instead, does it say: “re’eh--see, I set before you blessing and...Read more...

The Road Map to Goodness and Fulfillment

08/22/2024 02:08:36 PM

Aug22

Rabbi Micah Peltz

What does God want from me?  This is a question that I often find myself asking when confronted with difficult situations.  When there is no clear "right" answer, how do we still act like a mensch?  In our Torah reading this week, Ekev asks the same question:  "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you?"  Thankfully, it also gives us an answer:  "Only this:  revere the Lord your God, to walk...Read more...

Committing Ourselves to Growing Stronger from our Struggles

08/15/2024 12:29:35 PM

Aug15

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

This upcoming Shabbat is known as Shabbat Nahamu, the Shabbat of Comfort.  It gets its name from the first verse of this week’s Haftarah (from the prophet Isaiah), which says: “nahamu, nahamu ami—comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”  These are powerful words on the heels of our observance of Tisha B’Av (the ninth of Av) and feels especially important to hear this year, given the uncertainty in Israel and the worry...Read more...

The Waiting is the Hardest Part...

08/08/2024 11:16:14 AM

Aug8

Rabbi Micah Peltz

Tom Petty sang that “The waiting is the hardest part.”   I’m not so sure it is the hardest part, but it is certainly not easy.  That song has been going through my head this week as I repeatedly check the news from Israel.  Iran and Hezbollah keep threatening an imminent attack and, despite Hezbollah still firing rockets daily at Israel, a major one has not been launched yet (at least as of this writing).  Yesterday...Read more...

Approaching the border of the Holy Land...

08/01/2024 11:12:17 AM

Aug1

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

This week’s double parasha, Matot-Masei, finds the Israelites approaching the border of the Promised Land, and recounts the string of stops they made in the desert during their 40-year wandering. Rather than simply reading the text as a dry list of names without deeper meaning, many commentators insist that there are deep lessons to be derived from the place names. One such commentator was Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner (19th...Read more...

We Are Still In The Midst of Writing Our Story

07/24/2024 01:15:00 PM

Jul24

Rabbi Micah Peltz

Shalom from Jerusalem!  Actually, by the time you read this, I will hopefully have landed back home.  It has been a very full three weeks in Israel.  Most of my time was spent in the beit midrash (study hall) at the Hartman Institute discussing texts and ideas about Israel today and Jewish Peoplehood.  If you’d like to get a taste of some of the conversations I’ve had and teachers I’ve learned with, you can check out...Read more...

The Divine Image in Everyone

07/18/2024 09:35:19 AM

Jul18

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

This week’s Torah portion, Balak, contains the entertaining story of the evil prophet Bilaam’s quest to curse Israel. Having witnessed the Israelites triumph over every hardship, surviving internal dissent, the harshness of the desert, and military attacks, Balak, the King of the Moabites, hires Bilaam, a renowned sorcerer, to go and curse them.  As Bilaam sets out on his journey, an obstacle stands in his way.  Bilaam may...Read more...

Finding Strength to Move Forward

07/11/2024 11:16:38 AM

Jul11

Rabbi Micah Peltz

Shalom from Jerusalem!  It has been an incredible week and a half of learning, listening, and living here.  Most of my time is spent as part of the Rabbinic Leadership Initiative...Read more...

Our Responsibility to be of Service to Each Other

07/03/2024 11:01:04 AM

Jul3

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

In this week’s Torah portion, Korah, Korah and his followers engage in a rebellion, claiming that Moses and Aaron crave status above the Israelites for their own gain. The subsequent demise of Korah and his followers should have taught ordinary Israelites an important lesson. Instead, the very next day, they again take up their rebellion, blaming Moses and Aaron for what happened. Moses and Aaron appeal to God, but their plea falls on...Read more...

Continuing Forward

06/27/2024 11:50:11 AM

Jun27

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

In this week’s Torah portion, Shelah Lekha, twelve spies (meraglim) are sent ahead to scout out the land as the Israelites approach the land of Israel. When they return, ten of the twelve spies return with a discouraging report, and the people believe that it will be too difficult to possess the Promised Land. Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, offer a positive report pushing B’nai Yisrael to continue forward.

This...Read more...

Holy communities are built by people who count and are counted

06/14/2024 09:41:11 AM

Jun14

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

We just finished counting the Omer and now we find ourselves counting again as this week’s parashah, Nasso, opens with the Israelites being counted. God instructs Moses to continue the census of the...Read more...

Expressing our Responsibilities Toward Others

06/06/2024 10:20:38 AM

Jun6

Rabbi Micah Peltz

We begin the book of B’Midbar, the fourth book of the Torah, this Shabbat.  Those 40 years of wandering the desert you’ve heard about?  Thirty-eight of them happen here.  At the outset, the book sets the stage for the Israelite’s long journey (though they don’t know just yet how long it will be).  It does this by taking a census of the people and arranging the camp.  At the beginning of the second...Read more...

You'll Never Walk Alone

05/30/2024 01:44:35 PM

May30

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

This week, I have one of my favorite songs stuck in my head: “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” written by Oscar Hammerstein II, and composed by Richard Rogers. Perhaps, I have been singing this song all week in excitement and anticipation for tonight’s big TBS Spring Event: Souly Jazz with Hadar (here is a beautiful rendition of the song by famous Jazz musician, Louis Armstrong).  And perhaps I have been singing it all week because...Read more...

The View from the Mountaintop

05/23/2024 02:59:52 PM

May23

Rabbi Micah Peltz

This Shabbat we will read parashat Behar, which begins with the words, “The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai…”  The commentaries wonder: why does the Torah need to reiterate the fact that laws that follow were given on Mount Sinai?   The Israelites haven’t yet moved from the mountain, isn’t it obvious that they are still there?  The 11th-century French commentator Rashi answers this question by explaining that the...Read more...

Put Away Your To-Do List

05/16/2024 11:41:16 AM

May16

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

How do you organize your day? Personally, I try to make a list every morning of all the people I must reach, all the projects that need my attention, and all of the daily tasks that I need to do. I often feel it’s “been a good day” when I can check off most of the tasks I put down. I know it’s been an “awesome day” on the RARE occasion when I can check off everything. On the flip side, I feel disappointed and stressed when things...Read more...

Liberty and Justice for All: Reflections from My Civil Rights Tour

05/09/2024 11:14:26 AM

May9

Rabbi Steven Lindemann

I attended services at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, this past Sunday.  That’s where 40 of us from TBS began our Civil Rights tour, organized by our Social Advocacy Committee and flawlessly led by Zach and Terri Oppenheimer. 

It is...Read more...

We Have the Strength to Not Only Point Out What’s Wrong, But to do What’s Right.

05/02/2024 11:41:47 AM

May2

Rabbi Micah Peltz

In 1892, the early Zionist thinker Ahad Ha’am wrote an essay called Hatzi Nehama, “Half Comfort.”  He wrote it in response to the blood libel, the false and malicious claim that Jews were using the blood of Christian children for matzah, that was circulating in Europe during that time.  The “half comfort” that Ahad Ha’am took in this was that, since the Torah forbid the eating of blood, at least Jews themselves knew that...Read more...

At Passover, Working to Fight the Realities of Today.

04/25/2024 01:00:32 PM

Apr25

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

Moadim L’Simha—Happy Passover!  I hope you are having a meaningful holiday and are not yet too sick of all of the matzah! Each year, the days leading up to Passover are filled with hard work, and sometimes even stress.   But I have to admit, and I hope you have the same experience, each year during the seders I find myself looking around the Seder table at family, friends, and loved ones, and thinking to myself: “once again,...Read more...

From Darkness to Great Light

04/18/2024 11:30:12 AM

Apr18

Rabbi Micah Peltz

This Passover feels different from all other Passovers.  While we are four days away from the Festival of Freedom, we are also 194 days after October 7, and just 5 days after Iran’s attack on Israel.  In this moment, so many of the Seder’s words take on new meaning.  “Let my people go” becomes not only an ancient demand to leave Egypt but a contemporary plea to free the 134 Israeli hostages still in Gaza.  “In...Read more...

Taking positive action to create opportunities for nearness to God.

04/11/2024 11:42:02 AM

Apr11

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

As Jews around the world prepare for Shabbat, we are also either in the midst of, or making arrangements to remove the hametz (leaven products) from our homes. Though the manual labor can be intense as we prepare our homes and our souls for Passover, it is also particularly important as I believe we are also readying our souls to experience freedom anew.  Yes, the physical cleaning is important (and daunting).  But of equal if not...Read more...

Living Our Lives on the Side of Life

04/04/2024 09:46:25 AM

Apr4

Rabbi Micah Peltz

One of the many ways we find meaning in our texts and our world is through gematria, Jewish mystical math. Each Hebrew letter also represents a number, and sometimes those numbers can give us additional insights.  As we prepare for Shabbat this week, there are two numbers that are on my mind:  8 and 180.  8 because the name of our Torah portion is Shemini, which means “eighth.”  And 180 because yesterday marked the...Read more...

Am Yisrael Hai - How Will We Keep the Flame Burning? 

03/28/2024 11:35:15 AM

Mar28

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

The opening verses of this week’s Torah portion, Tzav, state: “This is the Torah of the burnt-offering… The fire on the altar shall be kept burning, not to go out: the priest shall burn wood upon it each morning, each morning … A perpetual fire shall be kept burning on the altar, not to go out,” (Leviticus 6:1, 4, 6).

Three times in six verses there is a reference to the fire burning on the altar and not going out. What is...Read more...

Perhaps we are here for this very moment?

03/21/2024 11:24:03 AM

Mar21

Rabbi Micah Peltz

The past couple of weeks I’ve been listening to Yael and Ari practice the parts they will each read from Megillat Esther for Purim this Saturday night (proud Abba kvelling moment!).  There is one verse, from Yael’s reading of Chapter 4, that has jumped out at me this year.  It is in this chapter that Haman’s evil plan to destroy the Jews is announced.  Mordekhai rushes a message to Esther.  He encourages her to go to...Read more...

Seeking to Repair the Brokenness that Exists in our World

03/14/2024 12:04:48 PM

Mar14

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

In this week’s Torah portion, Pekudei, the construction of the Mishkan (the Tabernacle) is finally completed. We then read that Moses “took the Tablets and placed it in the Ark,” (Exodus 40:20). It is interesting to note that the word used for tablets in the verse “edut”...Read more...

How Community Sustains US

03/07/2024 09:40:31 AM

Mar7

Rabbi Micah Peltz

This Shabbat we read Parashat Vayakhel.  Vayakhel contains the root kahal, which means community.  The portion opens with Moshe gathering the whole community together to give them the final instructions for the building of the mishkan.  The 13th-century commentator...Read more...

Ten Takeaways From My Trip to Israel

02/29/2024 11:55:51 AM

Feb29

Rabbi Bryan Wexler

Shalom from Israel!  I have been in Israel since Monday and return to Cherry Hill overnight this evening.  It has been a quick but certainly important trip to Israel, probably the most important and impactful time I have ever spent here.  I am grateful to our Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey for planning this solidarity mission and I am grateful to my TBS family, all of you, for supporting my being on the mission and...Read more...

Wed, October 9 2024 7 Tishrei 5785