Of all the orderings of the Tribes, be it by their mother, by their birth order, by their birthright, and so forth, I am most fascinated by the ordering at the beginning of Parashat Bamidbar when considered in light of Sefer Yetzirah, one of the earliest texts of Jewish mysticism. The Torah says: Hashem spoke to Moshe and to Aharon…
We say it all the time, every word - every letter even - in the Torah is essential and never superfluous. So if similar, or even identical, phrases appear it is because each occurrence teaches us something unique. The final Torah portion of the Book of Leviticus, Parashat B'hukotai, is distinct from the rest of the book in a certain…
Yovel, or Jubilee, is one of my favorite subjects. Very simply, the year of Yovel occurs after seven shmitah years. A shmitah year occurs every seven years (the next one is in 5782) and in the land of Israel farmland must law fallow and debts are released - it is a year of agriculture and economic remission. After seven cycles of seven…
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On May 11, in Rabbi Goldstein's absence, husband and wife team, Sara Yakira and Elie Aharon, offered the divrei Torah (words of Torah) on parashat Kedoshim, a.k.a. The Holiness Code. Their topic? Shatnez, the enigmatic proscription against wearing linen and wool together. Here's what they had to say: Shatnez Part I: Sara Yakira Shabbat Shalom. There’s so much to explore…
In Parashat Kedoshim, the commandment to leave the corners of fields and designate that produce for the poor, as well as after-growth and dropped sheaves and so forth, is given over. So why is it repeated again in Parashat Emor? How does this second iteration of the same mitzvah influence our understanding? Rashi has the same question... He explains that…
I'll never forget my first day in Asheville. 1997, standing in the parking lot of the French Broad Food Co-op thinking, "I will live here one day." Throughout my years at Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in L.A., I often thought of Asheville and CBI. Danielle and I were married in Montford. Our aufruf (when the groom is called to the Torah) was in the small CBI chapel. To be honest, I never envisioned being a pulpit rabbi - I love community organizing and non-profit management - but if there was one place I would want to be a pulpit rabbi, I knew it would be here. (read more)