Rabbi Jonathan Kligler

36 Be'ha'a'lotkha | Insights from the Weekly Torah Portion with Rabbi Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler

35 Naso | Insights from the Weekly Torah Portion with Rabbi Jonathan by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler

As Aviva Zornberg explains, the term "bewildered" derives from "wilderness", as in a trackless expanse where one easily loses one's bearings. This is the condition of the Children of Israel. How can they learn to find their bearings, so that they might reach the promised land. Somehow, they must learn to have faith and a sense of purpose to guide them - as do we all.

Our Torah ancestors were an agrarian society, acutely aware that they must live in harmony with the needs of the earth and the creatures with whom they shared the land. Hence, the rules for the Sabbatical year, when the land rests fallow, and the Jubilee year, when land is redistributed, with the understanding that we do not and cannot own the earth. We align this wisdom to the wisdom of Native Peoples of our continent, as Robin Wall Kimrerer writes in her book "Braiding Sweetgrass."

33 Bekhukotai | Fear Itself | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler

32 Behar | We Do Not Own the Earth | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler

31 Emor | Insights from the Weekly Torah Portion with Rabbi Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler

31 Emor | An Eye for an Eye? | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler

Justice is an ideal that the Torah repeatedly insists we must pursue, no matter how difficult to attain. This week's Torah portion coincided with the guilty verdict handed down by the jury in the George Floyd murder trial. Justice was served. The Torah's teachings about what it means to be a good citizen and to live in a just society are an inspiration.

30 Kedoshim | The Mitzvah of Tokhekha: Tough Love | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler

The Torah understands the skin affliction known as Tzara'at to be an indicator of a loss of integrity. The afflicted, known as the Metzora, must undergo a period of isolation and then ritual of reintegration into the community, so that further communal disintegration can be prevented.

27 Tazri'a | The Meaning of Forty | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler

29 Akharei Mot | The First Yom Kippur | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler

28 Metzora | Body as Temple | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler

Rabbi Jonathan tells the story of his mother's first cousin, one of the "The Nazi-Fighting Women of the Jewish Resistance." For more information: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/schupper-hella-rufeisen https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/opinion/sunday/Jewish-women-Nazi-fighters.html

26 Shemini | What Happened to Nadav and Avihu? | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler

25 Tzav | The Haftarah as Commentary and Critique | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler

24 Vayikra | Leviticus as Literature | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler

At the end of the Book of Exodus, Moses assembles the Mishkan, the dwelling place for the Divine Presence, that the Children of Israel have created. The Torah choice of words brings us right back to the beginning, Genesis, chapter 1, when God creates our world. We are meant to understand that, just as God made us a "house" to dwell in, so we, as God's partners in creation, must create a house in which the Divine Presence is welcome, in our homes, in our communities, and in our hearts.

The final act of the book of Exodus is the actual construction of the Mishkan, the dwelling place for the Divine Presence within the Israelite community. A narrative arc is completed: