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In this week’s Torah portion, parashat Balak, we read the story of the mighty Moabite king Balak, who wants to hire the prophet Bil’am to curse the children of Israel. Balak places increasing pressure upon Bil’am, first through Moabite and Midianite elders, and then through elite princes. Both times Balak sends esteemed men, but God...

“Sorry, Rabbi, but I just don’t get it. How could God treat Jacob so well, considering he was a thief who snatched Esau’s birthright from under his soup-filled mouth, and a liar who disguised himself to steal his father’s blessing intended for his brother? This is how God rewarded this selfish brat: adequate food and...

On a recent Sunday, I was invited to preach at a neighboring Episcopalian church. This church is unusual in that its members are a mixture of English and Spanish speakers. The vast majority of the Spanish speakers are undocumented immigrants and their children. My congregation has been working with this church community to support and, if...

A d’var Torah on Shabbat Nachamu Clarence Office, Jr., of Miami, FL, served in the U.S. Army for three years in the 1970s and was honorably discharged. Like many veterans, Clarence tragically fell into drug use and was arrested for drug offenses. He served a prison term and paid his debt to society. Clarence now...

Ruth Messinger reflects on climate change, the biblical flood of our own time, in this d'var torah on parashat Noach.

In this week’s d’var torah on Parshat Mishpatim, Judith Plaskow notes that it is easy to focus on those passages in the Torah that are inspiring and uplifting, or to depict US history as a continuing march toward equality and freedom, passing over in silence the aspects of both narratives that are troubling or oppressive.

I wonder how the story would have unfolded if God had been curious rather than furious, and if when Moses came down from the mountain and witnessed the dancing, he had been able to pause and observe, noticing the feelings arising and waiting to respond until his anger had quieted down. Was it reasonable to expect these newly freed slaves, who were just beginning to experiment with their sense of autonomy, to simply wait patiently for Moses to return? 

The horror stories we’re hearing about Uyghur people taken in the night, being separated from their families, having their heads shaved, put on trains, interned, forced into slave labor, and systematically murdered are all too familiar to the Jewish community.

The parshah is pushing us to learn from the insurrection – and not ever to forget it — in service of a larger goal. When major moments like this shock our systems, a part of us needs to embrace that shock and allow it to become constructive, something to propel us forward into courageous action.

I wonder if there might not be some wisdom in “let’s not talk about it”; if the covering might, sometimes, be part of the carrying.