Comments on Torah Portion Ba-Midbar 2024 (adapted from prior versions) ©Rabbi Mordecai Finley, 2024 (edited) WARNING: There will be a...

Achrei Mot 2024 Our Torah portion this week, Achrei Mot (After the Death), contains a ritual that bespeaks an ancient stratum of religion...

7th Day Passover – Monday night and Tuesday The 7th Day of Passover is this coming Sunday, April 28th and Monday, April 29th. The Torah...

Shabbat HaGadol - The Shabbat Before Passover One of the core themes of Passover is liberation from exile, especially the liberation of...

Thoughts on Torah portion Tazria 2024 (adapted from previous years) This week’s Torah portion is about mass fear, or better put, how to...

Shabbat Ha-Chodesh 2024 (coinciding with Parshat Shemini) Look up in the sky tonight. You won’t see much of a moon. The beginning of a...

Thoughts on Torah Portion Ki Tisa (adapted from previous versions) ©Rabbi Mordecai Finley, March 2024 What personal qualities are...

Thoughts on Torah portion Lekh Lekha 2023 (I am writing this on October 25, 2023. My heart is still in shreds.) There is something...

Thoughts on Parashat Noah 2023 (adapted from previous versions) I imagine warring bands of murderous maniacs, spreading ruination...

When people complain about reading the Bible, they often point to the “begots.” “This one begot that one, and that one begot this one.”...

Thoughts on Shemini Atzeret 2023 The holiday coming up this Shabbat is called “Shemini Atzeret,” usually translated as “The Eighth Day of...

Two parts: — Preface to Shabbat Thought – Regret and Renewal – Thought on the Shabbat Before Rosh HaShanah — Shabbat Thought – “Points of...

Comments on Torah Portion Ba-Midbar Warning: There will be a homework assignment at the end of this teaching. This Torah portion,...

(Image from Shutterstock, to indicate the Reclining Walls of the Study Hall hall Baba Metzia 59b) “Know the Truth in Your Heart” (adapted...

Thoughts on Torah Portion Emor 2023 Our Torah portion, Emor, has the most detailed list in the Torah of our Festivals and other Holy...

Comments on Torah Portion Tazria-Metzora This week’s Torah portion is about mass fear, or better put, how to stave off mass fear. Mass...

Comments on Torah Portion Shemini Please resist the temptation to moralize about the main narrative in our Torah portion, Shemini. Two...

Comments before Passover 2023 (Coinciding with Torah portion VaYikra) We are approaching Passover, the first night falling on the evening...

Thoughts on Torah Portion Shemot 2023 Our names give us a stable reference for others, but we, the persons behind the names, know that we...

Seekers of Truth Among the Ruins Thoughts on the Sabbath Before the 9th of Av (Parshat Devarim) 2022 Well-being is within your reach....