With Parashat K’doshim, we begin what the rabbis of the Midrash recognized to be a distinct section of the Torah, "the section dealing with holiness".  In this estimation, they anticipated modern scholarship, which also recognizes a distinct "Holiness Code" within the various strands that comprise our Torah.  Characteristic of this portion of Scripture is the repeated injunction, "You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. Read more...

Ours is an angry age. Confronted with ever higher levels of violence, with movies and television shows that grow ever more graphic and explicit in their brutality and glorification of cruelty, with neighborhoods no longer safe for a stroll and schools no longer safe for children, we respond to our pain by lashing out. Three strikes and you’re out, while reflecting our rage, is breaking our jails. And we’re too mad to care—let them rot! Read more...

Last week, the Torah recounted the grisly story of the sudden death of Aaron’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu.  It seems that the consecration of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) had barely been completed when these two kohanim decided to violate the established rules for the service of God and instead to willfully impose their own offering and their own mode of offering it.  In response to their “alien fire”, God engulfs the two men in a fire from heaven, instantly striking both down. Read more...

With today's Torah portion, Aharei Mot, we begin one of the distinct law collections of the Torah -- the Holiness Code.  This progression of chapters in the Book of Leviticus (Chapters 17-26) explain how the members of the Jewish People are to attain a level of holiness and integrity which will allow us to reach our maximum potential as a covenanted people and as individuals in the service of God.   Read more...

The Case of the Derogatory SnapChat Two weeks ago, I had the great privilege to be a dayan, a judge, for a "moot beit din" competition sponsored by Ravsak, the association of North American Jewish day schools. High school students from across the US and Canada, and from across the spectrum of Jewish life and denominations, gathered together in Los Angeles to debate and interpret how Jewish law applies to the following case (somewhat abbreviated here in my paraphrase): Read more...