D'var Torahs

The Power of the Small Aleph The very first word of Sefer Vayikra is “Vayikra” “And He called.”  The letter aleph at the end of the word Vayikra is written much smaller than the others. It is small, almost hidden, hardly noticed and yet it holds a great spiritual teaching. The Midrash contrasts this word “Vayikra” which is a loving, intimate call, with the language used when Gd speaks to Bilaam: “Vayikar” which is a happenstance encounter, somethin

‘Seven Times Built, Seven Times Rebuilt’    Our sages teach that the Mishkan (Tabernacle) was not simply constructed once and left standing. Before it was finally erected and inaugurated on the first of Nissan, it was assembled and dismantled seven times. Again and again, Moses built it, took it apart, and built it once more. This pattern echoes a deeper teaching of the Midrash. Before creating our world, God created worlds and destroyed them until this world came into being.

l   “We Cannot Fix “We Cannot Fix Everything” In Parashat Ki Tisa, we read about Moshe coming down Mount Sinai and seeing the people worshipping the Golden Calf. In response he shatters the first tablets, the Luchot, that were written by the hand of God. The tablets are broken. The covenant seems shattered. Everything holy appears to have fallen apart. God does not miraculously fix them or suggest that Moses try to repair them. They stay broken and yet the pieces a

“Fabric on the Outside, Soul Within” In this week’s Torah portion, we read about the Bigdei Kehunah, the sacred garments worn by the Cohanim (priests) when they served in the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and later in the Beit HaMikdash (Temple). The garments of the Cohen, and especially the Cohen Gadol, were described as “l’kavod u’letiferet”, for honor and for splendor. Each thread, each color, each stone carried meaning. The breastplate held the names of the tribes over the Cohen’s

From Hiddenness to Joy We live in a world of hiddenness. We do not see God. We do not see the full picture of our lives. We do not understand why certain things unfold the way they do.  That hiddenness is not a flaw in creation; it is part of its design. The Torah tells us that there are hidden things that belong to God and revealed things that belong to us. God’s ways are deeper than our understanding. Divine orchestration nowadays does not announce itself. It moves quietly