gerberjeremy

It is time to begin my new blog series. I've been trying to figure out - to paraphrase the Passover Haggadah - how to make this blogging endeavor different from all other blogging endeavors. I have written about the weekly Torah portion for nearly 20 years. It's time to mix things up and come at this from a new angle. This week, we are restarting the Torah reading cycle and are back at the Book of Genesis. My theme for all of Genesis is going to be "Origin Stories and Myths." The Torah text...

I'm going to do things a bit differently this year. It occurred to me recently that I've written about the weekly Torah portion for just under 20 years. Two years as a student rabbi with a congregation in Lake Norman, North Carolina. 13 1/2 years as Senior Rabbi in Wallingford, PA. And now three years in Edison, NJ. And maybe a D'var Torah or two sprinkled around my earlier years in rabbinical school and before that in college. If you want to hear what I have to say about the weekly Torah...

A favorite Yom Kippur story of mine: There once was a queen over many lands, whose son, the prince, had traveled very, very far away. When the queen called her son back, begging him to return and come home, he sent word that he simply couldn’t do it. It was just too far away, and he was too discouraged. The queen responded that if he could just turn around, start the journey back home, she would meet him in the middle. This is the message God wants us to hear as the High Holidays approach....