Tzara-at-More Than Skin Deep
I’m reading an interesting book right now, called Treat Me, Not My Age, by Dr. Mark Lachs, as part of a certificate program in Gerontology and Palliative Care. Any of us who have made...
Author: Rabbi Elkodsi
Manna, Memory and Memento
This week’s Torah portion, Beshallach, begins with the Israelites crossing Yam Soof, the Red Sea (literally, the “Sea of Reeds”) and leaving Egypt behind. There are immediate difficulties, most specifically, a lack of water...
Frogs In His Nose, Frogs On Their Toes…
This week we read parashat Va-era, where God begins to send plagues to Egypt to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. The first plague is dam, blood, and when that’s over, the same...
Let the Light of Hanukkah Shine On
Hanukkah ends at sunset, but unlike the endings of Shabbat and festivals–when Havdalah marks the separation between the holy and the mundane–there’s no ritual to mark this ending, and I’d like to propose one....
When Dreams Come True
In this week’s Torah reading–Mikketz–Joseph is finally released from prison and brought to Pharaoh to interpret two dreams which none of Egypt’s magicians had been able to do. As I was reading the text...
Vayetze: Because Superheroes are Human Too
In honor of my bat mitzvah anniversary, and in memory of Stan Lee. When I began learning and studying Torah and other sacred Jewish texts as an adult, I had some trouble realizing and...
A Change of Scenery Changes Us
This week we read the third portion in the book of Bereshit, Genesis, Lech L’cha, from the first sentence. Lech L’cha means, “go, go forth, go for–or to–yourself.” As Freud is famous for saying,...
The Tower of Babel – Ancient Team Building?
The story of the Tower of Babel takes up just 10 verses in this week’s Torah reading, sandwiched in between two long genealogical lists; the descendants of Noah preceding, and those of Shem following....
A Water-Optional Tashlich
When I was young, “doing tashlich” meant walking down to the little brook in our front yard and throwing in bread crumbs. Whether or not that water was actually moving was unclear, but we...
When Rosh Hashanah falls on 9/11
In 1945, a B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed into the Empire State Building between the 78th and 80th floors, killing 14 people. It was clearly an accident, so 17 years ago when I received a...
