Po Ve Sham

Mixed Feelings Aside, We Pray: Black Lives Matter / My Take on Beha’alotecha

While I don’t think I know a Jew who isn’t opposed to racism and who doesn’t feel a deep connection and moral obligation toward the injustice that African Americans experience, many of us feel deeply conflicted with the movement “Black Lives Matter”. Many of us, myself included, felt deeply hurt by the statements in the political platform of this movement against Israel. There is an article that was published in The Atlantic in 2016 that summarizes several of the responses that the Jewish community then offered. During the last couple of weeks in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder many Rabbis and thinkers have written about their position regarding how to navigate this tension.
Read more »
Between (Biblical) Egypt and (Today’s) Australia: Stubbornness and narrow-mindedness / Discover Who Pharaoh Really is! #Va’era

This week I watched the news coming from Australia: golf-ball-size hail and massive dust storms hitting rural and urban areas alike. It’s been a rough couple of weeks weather-wise. Now
Read more »
Shemot: The Secret Power of the Biblical Women Who Beat Milgram’s experiment

When we look retrospectively at the book of Genesis, which we just finished reading a week ago, there are two key concepts that keep coming to my mind. The
Read more »
Returning From Spiritual Exile

Jerusalem isn’t just the physical entity of a city. Jerusalem is a concept that evokes our spiritual aspiration for unity. In Tisha B’Av, as we commemorate the destruction of the
Read more »
Taking The Time/ The challenge of Making Time our Ally

Taking the Time: Parashat Yitro 5779/2019 This week while trying to get an idea for a Tu’bshvat inspired Shabbat dinner I bumped into an article that compared between the traditional
Read more »
“They Spoke the Same Words” – Uniformity is not unity!

The story of the Tower of Babel is one of the most famous and in my opinion misinterpreted stories in the bible. Genesis 11:1-9 וַֽיְהִ֥י כָל־הָאָ֖רֶץ שָׂפָ֣ה אֶחָ֑ת וּדְבָרִ֖ים
Read more »
Torah: Something to live by /#metoo

Parashat V’zot Habracha 5779-2018 V’zot Habracha…FOOTNOTE: Footnote This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced for the Israelites before his death.3 Surely it is you who love
Read more »
Recognize the Darkness and Offer Light- This is no Time for Neutrality

See, I set before you today a blessing and a curse. ורְאֵ֗ה אָֽנֹכִ֛י נֹתֵ֥ן לִפְנֵיכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה: Deu 11:26 Over the last couple of days it feels
Read more »