Seven Minute Torah

This week we dig into the Shema and the command to "v'shinantam l'vanecha - teach (words of Torah) to your children." How has this become such a central idea in Jewish life today?

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With D'varim we begin the final book of Torah. Moses reminds the Israelite people of some past failures - with an eye toward helping them build a better future.

It would be easier to skip the story of the Israelite war with Midian. But by facing it, we can commit to learn from it and to do better going forward.

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A conversation with Rabbi Stacey Blank: Pinchas is a parashah about extremism. What do we do with the Torah's apparent celebration of a violent act, and how can that reading of the text inform the ways we deal with religious extremism in our own society? Plus, we talk about Jerusalem, about liberal Judaism in Israel, and about feminine language in prayer.

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How does a story about a king, a sorcerer, a donkey, and blessings and curses teach us about standing up for what's right in the world? This week, we talk about parashat Balak.

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Please email me at rabbistreiffer@gmail.com with comments and questions.

Thanks for listening!

This week's portion tells about the death of Miriam. But is the whole story really here? We read the text through the eyes of Rashi and the commentators, and of Dr. Judith Plaskow, a contemporary feminist scholar who teaches that it is our responsibility to search for the voices that have been excluded from Torah.

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As always, please email me at rabbistreiffer@gmail.com with questions or comments.

By exploring this week's Torah portion we gain some insight into the Jewish view of reproductive healthcare. The Torah also gives a warning about those who would use religion in order to try to control others.

If you would like to join us for our upcoming learning session about abortion in Jewish texts, please email me at rabbistreiffer@gmail.com.

The Torah's story of the scouts points to our ability to choose how we understand and respond to a given situation. In this episode I relate the parashah to Viktor Frankl's teaching of the "last of the human freedoms."

This parashah tells about a strange incident in which two Israelites prophesy "illicitly." Moses's reaction to them teaches something important about leadership and listening.

Digging a bit under the surface of the parashah, we find a message about the responsibility to  uphold the image of God in each person. And about what an individual, or a society, should do when it realizes that it has not done so.