Are Scepters Only for Boys? (Purim)

Commentary on the Book of Esther.  “Oh, there’s no such thing as boy things and girl things. It’s just whatever you like.” Such was my 7-year-old son’s gently delivered and matter-of-fact response when another child firmly told him that flowers and hearts are “girl things.” Faced with the notion that gender is a binary (there...
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Addiction: The Strange Fire in Our Midst

Commentary on Parshat Shmini (Leviticus 9:1 – 11:47) What happens when the gift we want to offer isn’t accepted? Why do our efforts to be holy sometimes have tragic consequences? Our Torah reading celebrates the completion of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle built to be God’s dwelling place amongst the people. Precise instructions have been followed,...
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Ritual and Regulation: A Priestly Corrective to Prophecy

Commentary on Parshat Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:1 – 20:27) In the Bible, there are two traditions, the prophetic and the priestly, both of which aim at building a good society, but do so taking very different approaches. In the Haftarah read on Yom Kippur the prophet Isaiah famously demands: “Is such the fast I desire, a...
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Ruth: An Immigration Story

This text sheet uses excerpts from the Book of Ruth to begin a conversation about U.S. immigration policy. It is designed to segue into “The Sin of Sodom,” a text study that appears in the revised and expanded Mikdash handbook (p. 30-31). The second page of this resource contains a prayer for immigrant children and...
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