Parashat Noach
Noah, the complete, righteous soul of his generation, gets himself good and drunk after the flood experience has pa...Read More
Parshat Lekh L’kha
Interesting, how people journey -- almost aimlessly -- yet en route encounter their kismet “And G-d said to Abra...Read More
Parshat Vayera
The Kids Are Watching This week’s Torah portion, Vayera, begins with our Patriarch Avraham sitting outdoors, in...Read More
Parshat Chayeh Sarah
In Parshat Chayeh Sarah, Avraham Avinu is confronted with the responsibility to find his son a wife. His formula...Read More
Parshat Toldot
In Parshat Toldot, we encounter the remarkable event described in Genesis 27, as Yitzhak prepares in blindness t...Read More
Parshat VaYeitzei
In this week’s parasha, Yaakov flees for his life, departing from Beersheva back to Charan — back to the begin...Read More
Parshat VaYishlach
Was it Mort Sahl who said, "Just because I'm a paranoid, doesn't mean that they're not out to get me"? In this w...Read More
Parshat Miketz
It happens to all of us. You are with friends, engaged in small talk, and then someone makes a disparaging comment...Read More
Parshat VaYigash
After the Golden Calf, Moshe prays to God, begging forgiveness. In the course of his prophetic dialogue with the Cr...Read More
Parashat VaY’chi
ANOTHER DEATH-BED SCENE The Torah is a book of laws, 248 positive mitzvot and 365 negative commandments that set...Read More
Parshat Sh’mot
In the course of a lifetime, we encounter any number of friends. Some are friends by happenstance -- friends who h...Read More
Parashat Va-era
Parshat Va-era Parshat Va-era is the Sedrah that most thoroughly covers the substance underlying the Pesach narr...Read More
Parshat Bo
We read two puzzling statements as God prepares to exact the plagues in this week’s parasha. “And I will pass t...Read More
Parashat Bo (Commentary 2)
PARSHAT BO This week’s Parsha is one of the three or four Torah portions most central to the Jewish narrative,...Read More
Parshat Yitro
Tziporah enjoyed extraordinary social status within her native land. But after Yitro, the priest of Midian, gave hi...Read More
Parshat Terumah
Parashat Terumah is the first of the weekly Torah portions with a narrative that fails to excite. We have been read...Read More
Parashat VaYak’hel
VAYAKHEL: ON HEROES AND PROCRASTINATORS We have devoted the past few weeks to reading G-d’s instructions to th...Read More
Parshat M’tzora’
The traditional English translation for the disease tzora'at that is eponymous with this week's Torah portion, Metz...Read More
Parshat K’doshim
This week’s Torah portion lays out a comprehensive array of divinely ordained commandments that define the range...Read More
Parshat Emor
Not all of us realize it, but Parshat Emor is one of the most frequently read Torah portions we encounter. We typic...Read More
Parashat B’har
B’HAR-B’CHUKOTAI This week’s Torah double-portion, B’Har-B’Chukotai, begins: “And the Lord spoke to...Read More
Parshat B’ha’a’lot’kha
Not many people among Irvine's pedestrians and shoppers wear yarmulkes -- yet. The city's Orthodox Jewish communit...Read More
Parshat Sh’lach-L’kha
I first saw night-vision goggles when I watched Harrison Ford in Tom Clancy's "Patriot Games." The bad guys were p...Read More
Parshat Korach
Every time I meet a rabbi or pastor who now is a full-time stock broker, a realtor, an entrepreneur with a storef...Read More
Parashat Korach (Commentary 2)
KORACH: LEARNING TO LIVE WITH CLERGY-KILLERS Korach is a fascinating Torah Portion because, as happens so often...Read More
Parshat Chukat
This week's Torah portion bears one of the Bible's great enigmas. What exactly did Moses do that prompted the Div...Read More
Parshat Pinchas
We ended last week’s parasha with the Jewish nation crying as quasi-leaders sinned publicly with Midianite wome...Read More
Parshat Matot-Mas’ei
In our combined Sedra this Shabbat, the Jewish Nation’s unity seemingly faces its toughest test since Chet ha...Read More
Parshat D’varim
I primarily do two kinds of teaching: Torah classes in a wide range of areas within my extended congregational co...Read More
Parashat Eikev
This summer’s “cultural news” has been dominated by the deaths of several particularly prominent celebritie...Read More
Parashat R’ei
PARSHAT RE’EH In Parshat Re’eh, Moshe reviews the laws of kashrut. The Torah says that these laws separate u...Read More
Parshat Shoftim
When I was a kid, I was a very important person in shul. My dad was not at all prominent in the greater society -...Read More
Parshat Ki Teitzei
It took my divorce to understand fully all of those sermons that I had preached over the years about caring for t...Read More
Parshat Ki Tavo
This week's portion, Ki Tavo, is best known for its bikkurim (first fruits) passages, the verses we are commanded...Read More
Parshat Ha’a’zinu
Your child comes home and says she wants to be a doctor someday. Your spouse or serious beau tells you he or she...Read More