Parshat Vayakhel-Pekudei: The Message of the Calendar Rabbi Eliran and Ayala Shabo are Straus-Amiel shlichim serving as the rabbinic chaplaincy couple at the University of Edinburgh and on campuses along the east coast of Scotland The portions of Vayakhel and Pekudei are read this year on Shabbat Mevarchim which precedes Rosh Chodesh Nissan. Although it …
Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Vayakhel-Pekudei (Exodus 35:1-40:38) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel –Six days shall your creative activity be done, and the seventh day shall be for you sacred, a Sabbath of Sabbaths to God….” (Exodus 35:2) What is the point of repeating the command to observe the Sabbath, when we previously received this law …
Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Ki Tisa (Exodus 30:11 – 34:35) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – Ki Tisa is the most theological portion of the Pentateuch. It deals with one of the most profound issues facing our religion; what is the nature of God’s involvement with the world in general – and with Israel in …
Parshat Ki Tisa: The Leader and the People – One Complete Whole Rabbanit Batya and Rabbi Uriel Zaretsky are former Straus-Amiel shlichim to Warsaw, where they served as Rabbi and Rabbanit of the Jewish Community, and Rabbi Uriel was the Deputy to the Chief Rabbi of Poland During the time we served as shlichim in …
Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Tetzaveh (Exodus 27:20 – 30:10) Parshat Zachor (Deuteronomy 25:17-19) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “You shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under Heaven; do not forget!” (Deuteronomy 25:19). Each year on Shabbat Zachor, the Sabbath that precedes the festival of Purim, we read from a selection in the …
Parshat Tetzaveh: The Internal Dimensions of the Katoret Rabbanit Tova and Rabbi Evan Levine are Straus-Amiel shlichim serving as Directors of Community Education in Hale, Manchester “You shall make a mizbe’ach on which to bring incense up in smoke, of shittim wood shall you make it.” (Shemot 30:1) Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz, the …
Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Teruma (Exodus 25:1- 27:19) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “And let them make Me a Sanctuary that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). What does it mean for God to dwell among the people? Does this not sound anthropomorphic, as if God were in human form dwelling on our …
Parshat Teruma: “Giving as a Basis for a Robust Community“ Rabbi Moshe and Chava Bloom are Straus-Amiel alumni who served in Warsaw, Poland, where Moshe was a community rabbi, head of the Torah MiTzion Kollel and Assistant to the Chief Rabbi of Poland God demands of the People of Israel to open their hearts and …
Parshat Mishpatim: “Wronging the Stranger” Reut and Ori Houminer are Beren-Amiel alumni who served as spiritual leaders and teachers in the Jewish community and school of Madrid, Spain “And a stranger shalt thou not wrong, neither shalt thou oppress him; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Shemot 22:20) In our portion, the …
Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1- 24:18) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “You must help repeatedly with him“ (Exodus 23:5) And these are the mishpatim [laws of moral justice] which you [Moses] shall set before Israel.’ These opening words of our portion join together our civil law with the Ten Commandments of last …
Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Yitro (Exodus 18:1 – 20:23) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “The Lord descended on Mount Sinai… and Moses went up…And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go down’…” (Exodus 19:21) The verses immediately preceding the Decalogue Revelation at Sinai are curious, to say the least. God and Moses enter into a dialogue which …
Yitro: the first organizational consultant? Rabbanit Gavriela and Rabbi Aviel Dahan are Straus-Amiel shlichim serving as communal and rabbinical emissaries in the Jewish community of Athens, Greece. Was Yitro’s advice purely organizational, or did it also contribute to the inception of the Jewish People as a vibrant and growing community? The portion of Yitro begins …
