Dvar Torah given at Kehilat Hadar, March 21, 2015 I’ve long been fascinated with the grammatical construction of “passive to avoid taking responsibility.” Perhaps there’s an actual technical name for this phenomena, but you should all be familiar with it: “It spilled….” of course it didn’t someone knocked it over! Or “it fell,” and its popular cousin, “it got dropped” Really? by who?
Dvar Torah given at Kehilat Hadar October 4, 2014 This drash starts in a bar. I know that’s a bit unconventional for Yom Kippur, but please bear with me. Last year, I met Tim, my spouse at a midtown bar for afterwork drinks with his colleagues. It was also a goodbye party for someone who was leaving. At some point, champagne was brought out, poured into flutes and distributed to all as part of his goodbye toast. Of the 30 or so people there, who had their pick off the bar’s menu, no one had ordered champagne. Who would? Yet, because it was a toast, we all put down our beers, whiskey, cocktails to pick up flutes of fizzy wine. Toasting is an odd ritual when you think about it.
Dvar Torah given at Kehilat Hadar, August 23, 2014 Re’eh contains the laws of what you can and can’t eat- a system that evolves into Kashrut as we know it. And there are many rules. Rules about separate dishes and about kosher certifications, special rules that apply to knives especially if they are used to cut onions and chilis. And then there’s Passover!
Dvar Torah given at Ramah Darom Pesah Retreat, April 16, 2014 Hag Sameah. Shortly in Musaf, depending what siddur you’re using, we will read the following words: וקרב פזורינו מבין הגיום ונפצותינו כנס מירכתי ארץ Gather our scattered from among the nations and our Diaspora from the edges of the world והביאנו לציון עירך ברנה ולירושלים בית מקדשך בשמחת עולם and bring us with rejoicing to your city Zion and to Jerusalem and your temple with everlasting joy. ושם נעשה לפנך את קרבנות חובותינו …
Shavua Tov! It is such an honor for me to be here tonight, for the installation of my father Rabbi Randall Konigsburg. Just this morning we read about the details, rites and rituals of the portable sanctuary. Over and over, we read that all was built to precise specification, according to God’s instructions. For example, one verse reads: ויעש משה ככל אשר צוו ה’ אותו כן עשה And Moses did all that God commanded him to do, so he did. (Exodus 40:16)
Dvar Torah given at Kehilat Hadar, February 1, 2014 Our topic today is the miskhan, the portable sanctuary assembled and disassembled and moved around the desert while B’nai Yisrael wander in the wilderness. Today we read a detailed description of its creation from soliciting the materials to the particulars of construction both of the structure itself and of the ritual items to be housed there. Despite their detail, It would be imprudent to try to use these descriptions to recreate the mishkan, the instructions are wholly insufficient. Yet the usually concise Torah devotes much time and space to this topic. Far more than is practical or, at least according to some, interesting. In study of Torah, both traditional and critical, such extensive description is treated as a measure of importance. Clearly, the Torah thinks the mishkan is important.
Dvar Torah given at Kehilat Hadar, January 2010 Shabbat Shalom. Parshat Vaera opens with these words: וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֵלָ֖יו אֲנִ֥י יְהוָֽה׃ וָאֵרָ֗א אֶל־אַבְרָהָ֛ם אֶל־יִצְחָ֥ק וְאֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֖ב בְּאֵ֣ל שַׁדָּ֑י וּשְׁמִ֣י יְהוָ֔ה לֹ֥א נֹודַ֖עְתִּ לָהֶֽם׃ “G-d Spoke to Moses and said to him “I am Hashem, I appeared to Abraham, Issac and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by my name Hashem…”