Torah Portion | Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle - Part 2

Torah Portion

D’var Torah: Shavuot amid COVID-19

D’var Torah: Shavuot amid COVID-19

Posted on: May 28th, 2020 | 5 Sivan 5780 by Special to the Chronicle

By nature, humans are social beings, and COVID-19 has dramatically impacted the way we normally function. School, work and leisure have all been affected and suffered under the necessity of social distancing. This has been an especially difficult and trying time for Jews, whose communal worship with a minyan (a quorum of 10 men) at […]

A season of counting

A season of counting

Posted on: May 1st, 2020 | 7 Iyyar 5780 by Special to the Chronicle

We are in the season of counting. Parashat Emor, which we will read in the coming week, specifies the ritual for the omer. The first sheaf of the harvest, the first omer, which is lifted up by the priest, accompanied by an olah, a burnt offering, of a perfect yearling lamb. And then we count […]

First Person: It is a mitzvah, a commandment, to protect our health

First Person: It is a mitzvah, a commandment, to protect our health

Posted on: April 2nd, 2020 | 8 Nisan 5780 by Special to the Chronicle

This is not the first nor the last time the Jewish and global community will be faced with a challenge of such great magnitude. While these difficulties are present and real, the Jewish community can find a productive and insightful lens in focusing on the tremendous responsibility and opportunity to lead by example. According to […]

D’Var Torah: How experience can change us

Posted on: February 3rd, 2020 | 8 Shevat 5780 by Special to the Chronicle

Have you ever had a Jewish experience change you? Perhaps the better question is, have you ever let a Jewish experience change you?  These last few weeks, we began reading Sefer Shemot, the Book of Exodus. The 70 souls who descended to Egypt become, in the words of Pharaoh, a people “much too numerous for […]

D’Var Torah: Top five answers on the board … study Torah and do mitzvot

Posted on: December 31st, 2019 | 3 Tevet 5780 by Special to the Chronicle

My three children love to watch old reruns of the game show “Family Feud’ on television.   Remember the famous catch phrase?  “Top five answers on the board.”  Let’s play together now and call it “Family Feud New Year’s Edition.” Top five answers on the board.  Name five resolutions for the new year of 2020.  […]

D’Var Torah: All this fuss about some slow-burning oil?

Posted on: December 2nd, 2019 | 4 Kislev 5780 by Special to the Chronicle

We all know the story. During the Second Temple era the Syrian-Greek army occupied the land of Israel, defiled the Temple, and outlawed much of the practice of Judaism. The Maccabees, a small ragtag band of Temple priests saw that to save our way of life they had no choice but to rise up in […]

D’var Torah: Teachers and learners in the Book of Genesis

Posted on: November 1st, 2019 | 3 Heshvan 5780 by Special to the Chronicle

The parshiyot (Torah portions) we read this month are among the most famous and fascinating in the Torah with many interconnected themes: beginnings, covenant, genealogy and family conflict. We are introduced to Noah, Abraham, Sara, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Esau. As Pirkei Avot states, “Turn it and turn it again for all is in it.” […]

D’var Torah: A pleasant and purposeful New Year

Posted on: October 2nd, 2019 | 3 Tishri 5780 by Special to the Chronicle

In the holiday season we greet each other with an array of blessings.  The “normal” wishes for the New Year is “sweet,” “happy” and “good.” While these are all appropriate gestures, I would like to introduce two additional expressions: pleasant and purposeful. My suggestion is based on a verse in Mishlei (Proverbs 3:17): “The Torah’s […]

D’var Torah: See the High Holy Days through music

D’var Torah: See the High Holy Days through music

Posted on: August 26th, 2019 | 25 Av 5779 by Special to the Chronicle

Negative sensationalism in all forms of media has been increasing for a long time. There seems to be a tendency to emotionalize and emphasize the baser elements in news whether the stories are of a political, personal, criminal or economic nature. Reporting controversies, scandals, name-calling and divisiveness seem to take precedent over less salacious events […]

D’Var Torah: Moses … A man of words?

D’Var Torah: Moses … A man of words?

Posted on: July 31st, 2019 | 28 Tammuz 5779 by Special to the Chronicle

PHOTO: Rabbi Dena Feingold of Kenosha at the recently renovated Beth Hillel Temple in Kenosha on May 1, 2018. During the month of August, we will transition from reading Bemidbar, the Book of Numbers, to Devarim, the Book of Deuteronomy. It is often stated that the last word of each book of the Torah points […]