Fri, 15 May 2026 19:01:00 -0400WeeblyFri, 01 May 2026 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.tbshull.org/1000265039dvar-blog1000265039/parashat-emorAs we know, the Torah can be both a source of enlightenment and wisdom as well as quite frustrating and controversial. Contained in this Torah portion of Emor is one of those troubling passages.  There, as we will soon read, we are told that all animal sacrifices, all offerings must be without blemish. 

And the same is true of the priests.

The priests - the Kohanim - are prohibited from offering sacrifices if they have defects of any kind. These defects include blindness, being lame, short limbs, a hunchback, boils, growths, and so forth.

How do we address these issues?  (Obviously, these were pre-ADA times)  But doesn’t this prohibition seem inconsistent with the inclusiveness that we associate with Judaism?

• Why should someone with a disability not be allowed to offer sacrifices like any other Kohen?
• Aren’t we all created in God’s image? 
• Don’t all the positive messages of the Torah seem to contradict such an outright discriminatory attitude? 
• If your child has this parsha as their bar or bat mitzvah portion, what would you tell them? 
• How do we teach children about such passages in the Torah?
• Passages that trouble us or even that we find wrong? 

Think about the broader message of the Torah. That message seems overwhelmingly to be one of widening the circle of inclusiveness and of empowering and protecting those who are at risk. This is clear from our Exodus foundation story; it is also clear from the number of times the Torah explicitly states that we should protect the widow, orphan, poor and so on. In fact, at the end of this week’s parsha, the Torah states, “You shall have one standard for stranger and citizen alike: for I the Lord am your God.”

We need to protect the legal rights of strangers and treat them equally.  And let’s not forget that there are even Torah-based restrictions on what we can do to slaves.

Judaism developed over many centuries and under many internal and external influences. By valuing everyone as equally important, Judaism was revolutionary. Our world continues to struggle with this concept. It is probably unfair to hold the Torah and early rabbis to all of today’s standards. But it is important to apply the underlying principle of elevating the worth of every person.

We should teach our children that our Torah is a living document that has the capacity to grow over time. We need to balance the respect for tradition with the need to evolve. This may lead to tough decisions and conversations that won’t always be completely satisfying, but taking an open and honest approach to the Torah is the best way to ensure it remains relevant in our lives and the lives of future generations. ]]>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.tbshull.org/1000265039dvar-blog1000265039/parashat-achrei-mot-kedoshimThis Torah portion begins with a description of the requirements of the High Priest on Yom Kippur. Because of this, we also read it as the centerpiece of the Yom Kippur Torah service.

The Parsha tells us that, in addition to preparing carefully for his entering the holy sector of the Mishkan and later the Temple in Jerusalem, the Kohen Gadol would prepare just as carefully for his departure from the Holy of Holies. Why would this be?

The current Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis offers an explanation. He quotes the sentence, “Bezot yavo Aharon el ha-kodesh”-with this, the Aharon, the High Priest, will enter the Holy of Holies. But the word ‘zot’- ‘this’ -, seems to be unnecessary to the meaning of the phrase.

So what was it that Aaron came with as he entered the sanctuary?

The Midrash explains that he took with him the merit of all the Shabbatot, the Shabbases, that the Jewish people had kept during the previous year. The tells us a bit about the power and significance of keeping the Shabbat.

We know that the Kohen Gadol changed his garments five times during the course of Yom Kippur. And each time he immersed himself in the Mikvah.

The question arises...
We can understand why he needed to purify himself when he was coming from the outside and going to the inner sanctum. But why the purification when going from the holy place to the outside?

Rabbi Mirvis answers that it’s a bit like being given the privilege of meeting a king. You would dress carefully for the meeting. But, would you be so fastidious about going back to your ordinary life afterwards? But that’s exactly what the High Priest did, and that’s the connection with Shabbat.

Shabbat is so special for us, not only for the day itself but for the inspiration it provides for us throughout the following days of the week. That’s one reason we use spices to make Havdalah-to symbolize that the spirituality of Shabbat lingers on.

So too with the High Priest. He didn’t want the experience of the Holy to be just one moment in time. He wanted it to inspire and empower him. He wanted it to provide the kedushah, the holiness, for the rest of the entire year! And that’s why he carefully dressed himself in holy garments and immersed himself in the mikvah before putting on his ordinary clothes and venturing out to the world again.

From the High Priest’s experience we learn how important it is to savor every precious moment in life and how important it is to raise the mundane to the holy.]]>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.tbshull.org/1000265039dvar-blog1000265039/parashat-tazria-metzoraThe double parsha of Tazria-Metzorah is read this time of year every year. In it, we grapple with the overriding theme of these passages; that of lesions of the skin, clothing and houses. 

One way to approach these Parshiyot is to look beyond the skin afflictions and to think about the reasons that such misfortune was visited on people.  The rabbis tell us that it may be due to the commission of one of these seven sins:

• slander
• murder
• swearing falsely
• incest
• vanity
• theft
• begrudging others what they have. 

It’s interesting that each of these offenses is a sin of people against other people, not between us and God.  The sad truth is that it is probably easier for us to be upright in our dealings with God than it is to treat people in the proper way.  Most of Prophets recount reprimands that the prophets must deliver to the people for social wrongs, some against the poor and underprivileged. 

The sentence about the Metzorah states, “if it became in the skin of his flesh the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought to Aaron the Priest”.  Since most people are oblivious to the hurt they have caused others, it is up to society to take him or her to the Priest.  They are unlikely to go on their own. 

Part of the rehabilitation of the afflicted is to be put outside of the settlement for seven days.  This period is established to allow the person to consider their misdeeds and to do teshuvah, part of the process that will cure the problem.  Since they could not interact without sin among people, they are kept from society for this length of time.

The sin most often associated with the Metzorah is one of the seven I listed: slander, Lashon HaRah.  The proof text for this connection is the Torah narrative that tells us of Miriam’s comment to Aaron about Moshe’s living arrangements regarding his family.  She put Moshe on the same level as herself in the realm of prophecy.  So, she reasoned, if I can live with my family and interact with God, so should Moshe.  She, of course, was wrong about Moshe’s spiritual status, and because of Moses’s great humility, God was forced to deal with Miriam’s sin.  He struck her with Negah Tzora’at, thereby pairing the sin with the punishment for all ages.

Many people think that if something someone says about another is true, it is not Lashon HaRah.  This is patently wrong.  Lashon Harah consists of speaking negatively about someone, whether it is true or false.  In fact, the truth may be worse, because a lie would fall of its own weight anyway.  Another erroneous defense that is raised is that one is speaking about family.  This is the basis of most Lashon HaRah, for we speak about family more than we speak about outside people. 

It is fortuitous that Aaron would be the person to check on the afflicted during their exile from the camp.  Aaron represents the ANTI-Lashon HaRah. Pirkay Avot says, “Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace.”  What would Aaron do in the interest of peace?  One thing he was known for was attempting to patch up feuds between people, usually members of the same family.  He would go to the first person and say, “I just spoke to your brother.  He deeply regrets saying those harsh words to you. He wants to apologize, but he is embarrassed and does not have the courage to approach you.”   This was all a lie! He would then repeat the same thing to the other party.  The next time the two would meet, each would assume the other was remorseful but embarrassed, and each would initiate a reconciliation.  Peace would be restored.   

As we said, truth is not a valid defense against the charge of slander. But what of Aaron’s lies?  An entity even greater than Aaron employed prevarication to keep the peace. Who?  God himself!!

When Sarah hears that she will give birth in a year, she laughs, thinking, how can my old husband give me a child?  God hears her and reports her remarks back to Abraham, saying that Sarah said, “Shall I in truth bear a child, old as I am?” A lie! God bends the truth to keep the family intact.

Therefore, the Metzorah was brought before Aaron, so that he or she could learn that the mitzvah of restoring peace among people is so great that it supersedes the restriction against lying.  The afflicted has a chance to learn what a great sin Lashon HaRah is.

May we all strive to keep ourselves from committing this sin, and seek to provide harmony with everyone in our lives. ]]>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.tbshull.org/1000265039dvar-blog1000265039/parashat-shminiThe profession of psychiatry is a very powerful profession.  They label what’s normal and what’s not normal. They can offer comfort to clients who seek out their help and support.  

They also have their own Torah - it’s called the DSM:  the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.  

That "Manual" is now in its fifth edition, and each addition typically makes really significant changes in what counts as a “mental disorder.”  In some cases, an assignment of a mental disorder is dropped.

In 1973, the DSM-3, after much contentious debate, dropped ‘homosexuality’ as a mental disorder.  More recently, the DSM-5 has added a mental disorder.  This decision was also very controversial, with some hailing it as an important step in recognizing a genuine human condition, while others have argued that the addition will now make something normal into something pathological.

I hope that, by now, I have your interest. What is this new mental disorder added to the DSM?  

It's called PGD:  Prolonged Grief Disorder.  

In the case of prolonged grief disorder, a person is unable psychologically to move beyond the death of a loved one - this is typically a spouse or, even more often, a child.  Dr. Kenneth Kendler has called this decision “the bar mitzvah of diagnosis,” meaning that the diagnosis now officially blesses this disorder, a kind of welcoming into the tribe.  Apparently, about 10% of people dealing with grief suffer from the inability to get past it.

You might be asking “at what point in time does grief become prolonged?”   The answer, according to the DSM, is one year.  

Maybe you agree, or perhaps you think it’s not enough time to grieve. Or you may think that it’s situational - that it depends on your closeness to the person, the age at which they died, and perhaps even how they died. I read one story about a woman whose five-year-old daughter died from strep, and this mother couldn’t even enter her child’s bedroom until a year after she died.  After three years, she was able not only to enter the room but also to go through her daughter’s toys and clothing and sort them in order to give them away.  That mother would qualify as having prolonged grief disorder.

A line from our Lecha Dodi, Friday night’s consummate prayer, reads, “Too long have you dwelled in the valley of tears.”

You might also be asking “why does it matter?”  OR: “who cares whether what’s wrong with me is listed in some psychiatric bible?”  Well, the answer is that, if the DSM lists your disorder - if it makes it ‘official’ - then medical insurance will pay for your treatment. So, there could potentially be a lot at stake.

Unfortunately, almost all of us have had reason to grieve in our lives. How long did you grieve? How long did it take you to ‘move on’? I won’t say ‘get over it,’ because that’s insulting. And I’m not sure anyone truly gets over a deep loss.  Perhaps you had friends and other family members who urged you to move on with your life, and perhaps you found that advice helpful, perhaps you resented it as lacking in compassion and understanding.  But, when I heard about this new diagnosis, I couldn’t help but think about this week’s parsha, Parshat Shemini.  And I couldn’t help but wonder whether there’s such a thing as an “inadequate grief response.”  

Is it possible for someone to mourn too little? Of course, I’m thinking here about Aaron and the deaths of his two sons. There are all sorts of interpretations and suggestions as to the reason of their of their fatal punishment from God. Aaron is silent in the face of what must have been a catastrophic loss. Those issues are not what I want to focus on here.  Instead, I want to ask the question whether expressing grief is a sign of mental health, and whether the DSM should add yet another mental condition, maybe something called failure to grieve.

Maybe Aaron’s problem is gender-related. I know that, for many men, expressing grief might look like a sign of weakness. Or men like Aaron might believe that they have to carry on so as to be a role model to others.  Failure to grieve might also be connected to deep trauma - perhaps the experience has been so devastating that we shut down, afraid that if we let in the sadness, we will never be able to recover from it.  

There’s also the possibility that grief gets masked as anger; how could God have done this to me? How could God have let this happen?

Rabbi Yissocher Frand tells the story of a Rabbi Hollander, who spoke with hundreds of Jews after they had survived the Holocaust.  These survivors felt there was no reason to go on. They felt there was no point in living any longer and there was certainly no point to being a Jew.  They had lost any sense of purpose, any reason to live. Rabbi Hollander uses this week’s parsha, Shemini, to give them hope. He quotes the words of Moshe: “This is what God spoke when saying ‘through those who are near to Me I will be sanctified’ (B’Krovai E’Kadesh).”  Moshe is urging Aaron to recognize that, no matter what one is facing or has faced, being near to God can always give on meaning.  Even in the midst of grief, we can be - we need to be - close to God.

We have seen that grief can also occur as the result of other kinds of losses - we might grieve, for example, the loss of a job.  Or we might grieve a divorce, or a life-changing mistake we’ve made.  There is no one who has not experienced tragedy in their lives. There is no one who is exempt from grief.  Judaism teaches us that it is kiddush hashem to continue to worship God, even in the face of losses that we have experienced. Or, perhaps, especially in the face of losses that we have experienced.  

Judaism also teaches us that balance is so vital to a life well lived. Too much grief holds us back, and keeps us from God; too little grief stunts us and denies us the ability to grow from our experiences.  I could never tell you what that balance is - it’s not anything we can know in advance, and it probably varies from person to person.  But I do know that we can find it, with God’s help. I pray that we do.]]>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.tbshull.org/1000265039dvar-blog1000265039/parashat-tzavI want to draw your attention to one passage in Parsha Tzav, the portion assigned to this coming Shabbat.

It’s verse 21. It’s not even the entire verse.  

Moses has just slaughtered a ram for the sacrifice, and has washed the entrails and is creating a burnt offering.  The next line in verse 21 reads: “THAT WAS A BURNT OFFERING FOR A PLEASING ODOR, A GIFT TO THE LORD—AS THE LORD HAD COMMANDED MOSES.”

OK.  I’m sure the smells at the Holy Temple were pretty powerful. All the sacrifices of all the animals.  The oils and the incense and the blood. An earlier pasuk in Tzav even mentions DUNG. So maybe it was a mix of smells. Or perhaps the smells varied, depending on what animal was being slaughtered. We all know that cooked brisket smells a lot different from roasted chicken.

But what kind of smell is "pleasing to the Lord"?  

There is much in the Torah that endows God with senses, right? God SEES what we do.  God HEARS our prayers.  But here we are told that God is also SMELLING our sacrifices.  

We don’t usually think of God as a God who smells odors, pleasing or not.  And when we endow God with those senses, does that mean that we are dangerously close to ANTHROPOMORPHIZING God?

Everyone knows what that mouthful means? To anthropomorphize means to attribute human qualities to God.  But the Torah does that all the time.  God allows Moshe to see his BACK, for example.

• God has a back??? 
• Why do we even have to give gifts to God?  
• Isn’t God perfect? Doesn’t God have everything that she needs?  
• Why do we need to build a HOME to God?
• Can God be squeezed into even the biggest temple in the entire universe?

Perhaps you can think about what qualities YOU attribute to God.  

• Is he George Burns?  
• Does he have a long beard?
• Does God have a gender?
• Is God a spirit, or a being?

If we are created in God’s image, why SHOULDN’T we anthropomorphize God?

We may never have the answers to any of these questions, but it’s the questions that truly matter.]]>Sat, 21 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.tbshull.org/1000265039dvar-blog1000265039/parashat-vayikraIf I were to ask you: what are the important concepts we are to learn from the imminent festival of Pesach, you might respond, “The importance of freedom and liberty, the equality of mankind”, “human rights”, “social justice”, and “compassion.”

And yes, the holiday message has a bit of all that and more. But listen to these words from my teacher, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik: “The essence of the Seder and hence that of telling the story of the exodus from Egypt, is the expression of gratitude to the Almighty on the great liberation and miracles that He brought for us in Egypt".

As the Rambam - Maimonides - states in his Book of Commandments, “We are commanded to tell the story at the beginning of the 15th of Nisan and we are commanded to thank Him for all the goodness He has bestowed upon us.”

We can concentrate on these two words - THANK YOU - because there is nothing more important to talk about on Pesach, especially as we move through the end of Pesach. The theme of Thanksgiving is a central, perhaps THE CENTRAL, part of Pesach.

On the Seder night, at the climax of Maggid, we say: "Therefore we are obligated to thank and praise … exalt and revere Him who performed all those miracles and for us.” The fact is, in countless ways, our sages read the story of our Egyptian experience as containing lessons in Thanksgiving.

For example... What was Moshe’s name? You say Moses, or Moshe in Hebrew. Not really! That name was given to him by Pharaoh’s daughter. As a child, to escape the Egyptian persecution he was placed in a basket, floated down the river and discovered by the daughter of Pharaoh and was called Moshe – “Ki min ha-mayim mshisuhu” – because I drew him out of the water.

But what was the name given to him at birth by his parents? It’s not clearly stated in the Torah … he is always called by this name “Moshe,” given to him by Pharaoh’s daughter. Why? Say our sages: “Mikan attah lomaid s’choron shel gomlei chasidim” – “from here we see the reward given to the righteous.” Because Pharaoh’s daughter was good enough to save his life, as an act of gratitude and appreciation, we and God himself, only referred to Moshe by the name given to him by the daughter of Pharaoh. In Hebrew we call this “hakorat hatov – recognition of the good.” In English it is the two words: THANK YOU.

Another example... God appears to Moshe in the burning bush, appoints him as a leader of the Jewish people and tells him to return to Egypt.

Does Moshe comply? Not right away! First, he goes back to Yitro – his father-in-law. The Midrash points out that Moshe said to God, “Yitro took me in when nobody else would. I can’t just walk out on him … I first have to go and ask his permission and say thank you for all he has done.”  That’s gratitude.  

Still later Moshe helps bring the plagues on Egypt, but not the first two. Those are brought by his brother, Aaron. Why? Because the first two, blood and frogs, came from water … the very same water that had once saved Moshe’s life. Think about that. It would have been the height of ingratitude for him to bring plagues from the very same water that had helped save his life. Even the water deserves a debt of gratitude. Moshe Rabbeinu – Moshe our teacher. Indeed, his name, Moshe, teaches us to say THANK YOU.

May we all recognize the gifts that are ours this Pesach and express gratitude for them all.]]>Sat, 14 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.tbshull.org/1000265039dvar-blog1000265039/parashat-pekudeiOur parsha Pekudei tells us...

“And Moshe did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did. It came to pass in the first month, in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the Mishkan was set up.” 

And the Talmud tells us:
“When (the month of) Adar enters we increase in joy!” 

So, there is clearly a connection between the building of the Mishkan, the moveable sanctuary, and the month of Adar, which includes the joyous holiday of Purim.

What is so significant about building the Mishkan that it takes up so much space in the Torah?

We have about 4½ chunky Torah portions packed with detailed descriptions of what was commanded and how it was executed with precision.  And every year we revisit this account of what was essentially a singular event in history for the plan for a Temple that we’ll never replicate.  And, throughout the rest of the year, we confront so many places in the Torah where the halachot are not clear, and the narratives of our ancestors are thin and full of missing details. 

• Why?
• How does that connect with Purim and the month of Adar?
• Why are the building of the Temple and the month of Adar intended to bring about an increase in joy?

To provide a possible answer, I want to tell two stories.  Here’s one:

A Jewish comedian (is that redundant?) once went to the airport to pick up his mother in-law. On the way home, he asked her, “How long are you staying?” She replied, “As long as you want.” He responded in amazement: “You’re not even coming in for a cup of coffee!?”

And here’s the other: 

When the Kotzker rebbe was a precocious child of three, his rabbi asked him, “Where can God be found?” The child answered: “Everywhere!” His Rebbe shook his head and made clear that that answer was incorrect. So, he asked the child again, only to get the same response. Finally, the Rabbi told him the RIGHT answer: “God can be found only where He is invited to enter.”

Here we are at the end of Exodus, and after so many parshiyot devoted to details, it’s easy to miss the big picture, to confuse the forest and the trees.  Here, at the end of Pekudei, we witness the completion of the Temple, and we see the manifestation of God’s presence in cloud and fire, a presence that it meant to protect us throughout the rest of our journey. But, even as we travel, and we need to travel, we have a building, a home, a sanctuary, a sacred space where we invite God into our lives.  Where we became a true people.

The name of the month ADAR in Hebrew is ALEPH-DALET-REISH! ALEPH stands for God, Adonai, Who is one. The first time ALEPH is used at the beginning of a word in Torah is ELOCHIM. DALET- REISH spells DAR, to reside. HASHEM finds residence with us in ADAR. It’s not just when we enter the time zone of Adar that we increase in joy but rather when ADAR enters and penetrates us, to that extent joy is multiplied.

Purim is packed with eating and drinking with gusto. Yet, in just such a setting, we joyously welcome God into our very midst, in complete fulfillment of the destiny of the Jews.

And we look forward to the Festival of Liberation, of Spring, Pesach!]]>Sat, 07 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.tbshull.org/1000265039dvar-blog1000265039/ki-tisaStrangely, this D'Var begins and ends with two parables that involve crying men.

• Here’s the first:

There’s a story that the Chefetz Chaim was visiting a Jewish village.  There he was greeted by the local dignitaries, who proudly told him that they actually had in their town a Society for the Keeping of the Sabbath. We are told that when the Chefetz Chaim heard this news, he burst into tears.  “If you need a Society to keep the Sabbath,” he told them, “I have a feeling that you probably don’t do so.”

 In last week’s parsha we read of the building of the Temple, of the creation of the golden calf, and of the tablets that Moshe destroys in anger. In the midst of all this drama, we also see God’s insistence of the importance of Shabbat. “Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord.”  And Moshe is instructed that even the building of the Holy Temple must cease on Shabbat.

Years ago, I attended a lecture that Rabbi Harold Kushner gave about the three world-changing contributions that the Jews gave to humanity. I don’t know what you might think they are, and we could certainly debate some of these points. But, for Kushner, they are:  DIETARY RULES (kashrut); MONOTHEISM; and Shabbat, the holiness of a day of rest.  A day that separates the mundane work week from the spiritual day that defines us as a people.  There is something revolutionary about demanding a day of rest. However hard life must have been, however much the demands of the world call out to us, we are enjoined to observe/to keep the Sabbath.  As God tells Moshe, it “shall be a sign for all time between Me and the people of Israel.” 

• And here’s the second story:

The rabbis tell the story of a man who was disenchanted with Judaism. He had discovered another religion, a religion that appealed to him so much that he decided to leave Judaism and convert out.  His rabbi came to see him, and pleaded with him not to abandon the religion of his family, of his birth. The rabbi told him about the joys of the Torah, about being God’s “chosen people.”  The rabbi reminded him of the excitement of his bar mitzvah a few years before. But nothing moved the young man.  The rabbi even told him that he would go to hell if he adopted another religion.  Again, the young man was not persuaded.  After hours of this, the rabbi left, giving up in disgust.

A day or so later, a friend visited the man.  They were reminiscing about their childhoods, and they began to remember their experiences of Shabbat. They talked about the food they loved, the prayers they chanted, the aromas that they savored as they entered their homes. They reminisced about the songs that they would sing on Shabbat, and they began to sing some of those prayers. The young man began to cry.  His memories of Shabbat made him remember that he was a Jew, and how vital that was to his sense of his own identity.  He did not abandon his Judaism.

I don’t know if that story is true, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is.  I am sure that we all have different Shabbat rituals, and I would guess that we can’t always commit as fully as we might like to Shabbat observance.  

Some people, for example, have no choice but to work on Shabbat. And I have NO DOUBT that we all reject the mandate that God gives Moshe in Ki Tissa that we should be killed if we violate Shabbat. 

Even with all that, though, I do think that we all know - or, better, we all FEEL - the intense significance of this weekly day of rest. Of Shabbat.  

This was indeed a gift that the Jews gave to civilization, and it is a gift - a blessing - that we give to ourselves.]]>