Multiple Motives for Our Actions
5779
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Why do I show up to teach my classes at American Jewish University? For a whole variety of reasons. I love teaching. I signed a contract to do so (I promised). I owe it to the students, who paid tuition. I am being paid. Responses from students challenge me to think in new ways, thus enriching and expanding my scholarship and writing. I am deeply committed to Judaism for reasons that I have thought about a lot, and I am glad to be training the next generation of rabbis and lay leaders for the Jewish community. I want people to think well of me, that I am responsible, etc., etc. At
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Eichah: Praise, Rebuke, or Lament?
5779
It is noted in Midrash Rabbah to Eichah, the Book of Lamentations, that three prophets each made a statement to Israel that begins with the word “Eichah,” “how.” What is more, we will encounter each of those verses this week:
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Day Before You Die
5779
In the first of this week’s double portion, Matot-Mas'ey one verse catches my attention: “Avenge the Israelite people on the Midianites after which you will be gathered to your kin.” (Numbers 31:2) Once Moses completes this task, he will die.
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On Zealotry and the Pursuit of Peace
5779
Our Torah portion this week recalls a man named Pinchas, the great-nephew of Moses, who engages in an
act of vigilante violence. The Israelites are in the midst of a plague, brought down by God as penance for
rampant acts of sexual immorality. Pinchas responds by capturing a couple in flagrante delicto, and
executing them-- stabbing the pair of them through with his spear.
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