Category
rabbi avivah w. erlick
Torah portion: The blessing of peace
If you could give another person the ultimate blessing, what would it be?
Accepting the end
The hospice patient, an innovative leader in his profession, was in his last moments of life.
Torah portion: That precious moment
Parashat Ha’azinu (Deuteronomy 32:1-52)\n
Torah portion: Must enlightenment hurt?
Parashat Masei (Numbers 33:1-36:13)\n
Torah portion: He is pure, she is pure
Parashat Tazria (Leviticus 12:1-13:59) Many people think the description in this week’s parasha, Tazria, of how the High Priest should treat lepers — by evicting them from the camp of Israel with a ritual, and accepting them back with another once they’ve healed — is so archaic as to make studying it absurd.
Hardship and rebirth: Parashat Beshalach (Exodus 13:17-17:16)
In these dark, cold days of winter, it’s so easy to lose hope. Add to this the hardships of loss, with which life seems intent on liberally sprinkling our lives, and we get something akin to paralysis. We may feel like a tree in winter, shorn of its leaves, standing still like death. Will spring ever come, and will we survive until it does?