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I still remember the first time I read Hanoch Levin’s Ketchup, that bitter satirical revue from the 1970s that somehow grows more relevant every year instead of less. Levin, one of Israel’s sharpest playwrights and anti-war satirists, looks straight at the land promised to Abraham and to descendants, and refuses, flatly, to give his life for it. He never dreamed of Hebron. Nablus does not keep him awake at night. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are already resting in their graves, a

From the battlefield to the halls of government, Parashat Ki Tetzei offers an ancient warning for Israel and America today, one that Locke and Montesquieu would articulate centuries later: power may be necessary, but without limits, it can corrupt the very people and societies it was meant to protect Parashat Ki Tetzei begins with war: When you go out to war against your enemies…” (Deuteronomy 21:10). Not if. When. The Torah knows that there are enemies who must be confronted

God, Trump, and a Soccer Referee in the Battle Over the Rules of the Game The Oven of Akhnai is not really a story about an oven. The proof is simple: nearly two thousand years later, we are still telling the story, yet most of us cannot remember who thought the oven was ritually pure and who thought it was impure. What made this Talmudic debate immortal was a much larger question, one that every human society still wrestles with today: When we disagree, who gets to decide wh

Parashat Re’eh and the most sophisticated form of idolatry. When we hear the word idolatry, most of us picture an ancient world of carved statues, pagan temples, and forgotten rituals. It belongs, we assume, to the same distant universe as chariots, desert wanderings, and long-extinct civilizations. We read the Torah’s warnings against Baal and Asherah as fascinating history rather than a living moral challenge, convinced that idolatry is one biblical commandment that has lit

There is a story of a man desperately searching for parking in Tel Aviv. Late for the most important meeting of his career, he circles the streets again and again until, in complete desperation, he looks heavenward and prays. “God, I really need Your help. Please, help me find a parking space.”At that very moment, a car pulls out. The man looks back toward heaven and says, “Never Mind, God. I’ve Got This” It is funny because it is painfully familiar. And it is precisely the

Imagine this. You’re the CEO. You’ve led your organization through crisis after crisis: geopolitical turmoil, supply shortages, employee unrest, and even a forty-year wilderness detour. You’ve built a strong team, cultivated a compelling vision, and led under relentless pressure. Then one day, the Board tells you: “Thank you for your extraordinary service. You won’t be leading us into the next chapter.” That is precisely where we find Moses in this week’s parashah. A Leadersh

Parashat Devarim and why the most powerful battles are fought over the stories we choose to tell. Every family tells stories. Some are hilarious. Some are embarrassing. Some have become so polished through decades of repetition that no one remembers whether they actually happened quite that way anymore. There is the joke that has not been funny for twenty years but is still told at every holiday dinner. The legendary family tale that has achieved the status of folklore. The

Long before Zionism, long before exile, and long before the modern Jewish world began debating the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora, the Torah posed a question that has become strikingly relevant once again. After forty years of wandering toward the Promised Land, after generations of longing for Zion, the tribes of Reuben and Gad stand before Moses with a startling request. They announce that they do not wish to cross the Jordan. They have found a home on the lan

What the Daughters of Zelophehad teach us about leadership, listening, and why certainty may be the greatest danger of all- Parashat Pinchas In our political culture, changing your mind has become almost unforgivable. Public figures cling to old positions long after reality has shifted, terrified that admitting a change will be framed as weakness, inconsistency, or betrayal. Social media has only amplified the problem. Every tweet is archived, every past statement weaponized,

Human beings rarely see the world as it is. We see it as we are (Balak) The voices we dismiss may be the ones trying to save us A talking donkey sounds like the beginning of a joke. Instead, Parashat Balak offers one of the Torah’s most unsettling lessons about leadership, certainty, and the dangerous things we fail to see. Balak, king of Moab, is terrified by the approaching Israelites. Convinced they pose an existential threat, he hires Balaam, a famous prophet-for-hire, to

A Reflection on Parashat Chukat There is a moment in the life of almost every visionary leader when experience begins to compete with hope. At first, they see possibility where others see obstacles. They inspire, build, persuade, and dream. But after years of setbacks, disappointments, resistance, and endless complaints, something shifts. They become a little less patient. A little more skeptical. A little less willing to believe that people can change. Parashat Chukat tells

Parashat Korach and the challenge of staying part of the story One of the defining Jewish questions of our moment is not whether Israel deserves criticism. Of course it does. Every society does. The question is whether criticism and belonging can still live together. Can we challenge Israel without walking away from it? Can we remain part of the story even when we struggle with where the story is going? Parashat Korach may offer an unexpected answer. At first glance, Korach s

“If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments… I will grant your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce” (Leviticus 26:3–4). And if not? A long, unsettling cascade of calamities unfolds- fear, drought, defeat, exile. For generations, this passage has been read as a theological threat: behave, or God will punish you. A divine parent raising a cosmic hand. But what if this passage is inviting a different kind of reading? What if this is not

There is a verse in this week’s portion, Parashat Emor, that has the power to unsettle us, if we allow it. Any man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall not approach to offer the offerings of the Lord… for any man who has a defect shall not approach (Leviticus 21:17–18). At first glance, it reads like a disqualification. A priest with a physical imperfection is barred from serving at the altar. In a tradition that so often insists that every human being

A reflection on Parashot Acharei Mot–Kedoshim Woody Allen once joked that he suffers from post-partum depression, because since the day he was born, he has been depressed. It is a humorous exaggeration, but it captures something uncomfortably true about the human condition. There is a sense in which “after” is not a stage we enter occasionally, but a state we inhabit almost continuously. This powerfully expressed than in the opening of Parashat Acharei Mot: “And the Lord spok

From skin to speech: What Parashat Tazria teaches us about toxic speech There are diseases of the body, and then there are diseases of the soul. Parashat Tazria, in the Book of Leviticus, appears at first glance to belong entirely to the first category. It speaks in unsettling detail about Tzara’at– a mysterious affliction that appears not only on human skin but also on garments and even on the walls of a home. “When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling or a rash o

Counting What Counts: A Reflection for the Omer If someone broke into your home to steal your most valuable possession, how would you respond? You would likely act immediately, drive them away, call for help, do whatever it takes to protect what is yours. And if I can ask: What is your most precious possession? Money? Jewelry? No. No and No There is one resource that is truly rare, inherently limited, and completely irreplaceable- time We live with a quiet illusion: that tim

The Haggadah quietly teaches us something radical: Freedom is not defined by what you have, but by what you are able to give We like to imagine freedom as a moment of triumph, a sea splitting, a people rising, chains breaking with a loud and final crack. And yet, when we sit down at the Seder table, we do not begin with power. We do not begin with miracles. We begin with something almost embarrassingly simple: “Ha lachma anya di achalu avhatana b’ara d’Mitzrayim…Kol dichfin y

Gifts for God, or Mirrors of Ourselves? Reflections on Parashat Vayikra There is a familiar anxiety that visits us whenever we need to buy a gift for someone we love. We pause, sometimes for a long moment, and ask ourselves: What would they actually want? What do they need? What would make them feel seen? Because a real gift is never about the object itself. It is about knowledge. It is about attention. It is about relationship. In Hebrew, this is not a coincidence. The word

Like the women who did not contribute to the Golden Calf, Iran’s women’s soccer team's passive approach of saying nothing showed its strength (Vayakhel-Pekudei) I pray in two places every week: the synagogue and the soccer stadium, Surprisingly, I have learned something about faith in both. In this week’s double Torah portion: Vayakhel–Pekudei, The Torah describes the construction of the Mishkan, the sanctuary in the desert. The people are invited to bring materials for its b