Creating a Favoritism-Free Zone Parashat Shoftim, Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9 Rabbi Russ Resnik I long for the day when “Messianic Jewish” is...

The beginning of this week's Torah portion is the end of a long section of Deuteronomy (CH 4–11) in which Moses exhorts the Jewish people...

This week's Torah portion contains the constant theme of the failure of the people and their leaders in contrast to the love of God.

Our Torah portion this week brings us to the end of the Book of Leviticus. Chapter 26 is the epilogue to all the laws. It is a vision...

So much has changed in the last few years. If we are following the Way of the Lord (Gen 18:19), it can feel like we strangers and aliens...

Everyone desires acceptance. It means that we are included or valued within a group. Sometimes acceptance is based on how we look, a...

This past Shabbat, I began a series on virtues that concretize what it means to draw closer to God. It is vitally important that we...

This week our Torah portion (Leviticus 12:1–13:59) describes situations in which people are “clean” or “unclean.” In Hebrew, the words...

We could say that in our Torah portion this week "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times" for Aaron. In Leviticus 9, we read...

Fire is one of the most significant developments in human history. It allowed people to eat different kinds of food and live in parts of...

Purim is almost upon us. Next Wednesday night, we will join the rest of the Jewish world in reading the Book of Esther, remembering how...

Where do you store important documents? We all have certain documents that must be protected. Birth certificates, important financial...

Our Torah portion for this week begins with a reminder of the command to keep Shabbat. Also, the last thing we read after Moses receives...

This week our Torah portion focuses on the story of the Golden Calf. To get the most out of this narrative, we must go back to Exodus 24...

The sense of smell is powerful. It can serve as a warning when you smell dangerous odors. On the other hand, our sense of smell brings...

Our Torah portion for this week describes the instructions for building the Tabernacle. This structure provided the way that God could...

This week our Torah portion is filled with a variety of laws that describe a way of life that is moral, ethical, and reflects the...

This week's Torah portion could be considered the centerpiece or cornerstone of the Torah, and perhaps of the entire Tanakh or even the...

This week our Torah portion is the story of the parting of the Red Sea and Israel's journey to Horeb, which is also known as Mt. Sinai....

Recently, I saw a television advertisement for a smartphone company in which a child is given a large lollipop. Then another child...