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Dvar Torah

  • How do you define holiness? – Parshat Kedoshim, Rabbi Dov Emerson, Head of School at YULA HS

    How do you define holiness? – Parshat Kedoshim, Rabbi Dov Emerson, Head of School at YULA HS

    This week’s parsha deals with concepts of holiness. The Jewish people are commanded to be holy, but how does that manifest itself? Rabbi Dov Emerson, Head of School at YULA High School in LA and NCSY Alumnus from Memphis, Tennessee, looks at the act of making Kiddush, blessing a cup of wine at the beginning

    posted by , on April 20, 2014
  • ‘In Every Generation…’ A Pesach Message from Rabbi Pinchas Stolper

    ‘In Every Generation…’ A Pesach Message from Rabbi Pinchas Stolper

    Rabbi Pinchas Stolper, the Founding Director of NCSY presents a special message for Pesach during the NCSY@60 anniversary year. Drawing on the mysteries of Lag B’Omer and the meaning of Vehi She’Amda, a passage from the Haggadah which marvels that the Covenant between HaShem and the Jewish people has endured through the generations as countless

    posted by , on April 10, 2014
  • Choosing Freedom & Taking Flight – Acharei Mot, Rabbi Gideon Black, JLIC at NYU

    Choosing Freedom & Taking Flight – Acharei Mot, Rabbi Gideon Black, JLIC at NYU

    Rabbi Gideon Black of JLIC at New York University examines two verses from Parshat Acharei Mot that make it clear that just as much as Moses had to save the Jewish people from the grasp of Pharaoh, he also had to convince those who only desired a settled life in Egyptian society not to become

    posted by , on April 8, 2014
  • Please Don’t Eat Your Words, Parshat Metzorah – Rabbi Yehoshua Kohl, Regional Director of NY NCSY

    Please Don’t Eat Your Words, Parshat Metzorah – Rabbi Yehoshua Kohl, Regional Director of NY NCSY

    Parshat Metzorah expands on last week’s portion and presents the story of a person who spoke badly about someone else, and was hit with mysterious spots on their body, their clothes and even their house. Although this seems unlikely to us now, Rabbi Yehoshua Kohl, Regional Director of NY NCSY, explains the spiritual dimensions and

    posted by , on April 2, 2014
  • Will you chase the pack or are you being chased? – Parshat Tazriah – Rabbi Lashak, Southwest NCSY

    Will you chase the pack or are you being chased? – Parshat Tazriah – Rabbi Lashak, Southwest NCSY

    This week’s parsha introduces the complex concept of Tumah v’Taharah — impurity and purity. Rabbi Lashak, Regional Director of Southwest NCSY and Euro ICE, probes this tricky topic with a story where a heroic individual faces down a pack of hungry lions. Find out how it ends! Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myNCSYAlumni Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ncsyalumni

    posted by , on March 25, 2014
  • Lessons of the Avodah Part 3 – Using Inspiration Properly – Parshat Shemini

    Lessons of the Avodah Part 3 – Using Inspiration Properly – Parshat Shemini

    This week we read about the “eighth day”, yom ha’shemini, which was the inaugural day of the Mishkan. The commentators explain that this day is the first day of Nissan, one year after the Exodus. We read about all of the specific services that Aaron and his sons were commanded to do in order to kick-off the future of all services in the Mishkan. This entire episode is actually quite strange. This is because this “eighth day” that is being celebrated was already recorded in a previous part of the Torah. In the last section of Parshat Pekudei (Exodus 40) we already read about the inauguration of the Mishkan! The entire latter half of the Book of Exodus all culminated towards the final goal of God’s Presence filling the Mishkan, which is recorded in the last verses of Pekudei (40:34-38). And all of that happened on the first of Nissan, the exact same day as our “eighth day.” Why do we repeat it here? Furthermore, this event is actually described a third time in the Torah, in the Book of Numbers. In the Parsha...

    posted by , on March 21, 2014
  • Pleasures of the Plate & Parshat Shemini – Rabbi Phil Karesh, Midwest NCSY

    Pleasures of the Plate & Parshat Shemini – Rabbi Phil Karesh, Midwest NCSY

    Many of the rules outlined in the Torah help us navigate the maze of life and pertain to pleasure, especially regarding food. These are the ones that are easiest to over-do! The rules in Parshat Shemini act as an instruction manual to help us live pleasurably but also prudently, and Rabbi Phil Karesh, Educational Coordinator

    posted by , on March 19, 2014
  • Parshat Zachor and Purim

    Parshat Zachor and Purim

    What is so important about this passage that it is the only one required by Torah law to be read publically every year? Why does this reading have to be done the Shabbat before the holiday of Purim? What exactly does the nation of Amalek mean for us today? In order to understand the answers to these questions, we must first examine Parshat Zachor a little bit more carefully.

    posted by , on March 14, 2014
  • Lessons in the Avodah Part 2 – Parshat Tzav

    Lessons in the Avodah Part 2 – Parshat Tzav

    In this week’s Torah portion we are given the details of the various sacrifices given in the Temple. While last the commandments regarding the sacrifices were more general, and addressed to the people as a whole, this week the commandments are a lot more specific, and are addressed specifically to the Kohanim (Priests).

    posted by , on March 14, 2014
  • How is Jewish Time like a Circle? Rabbi Micah Greenland, International Director of NCSY

    How is Jewish Time like a Circle? Rabbi Micah Greenland, International Director of NCSY

    It was a truly fateful day when King Achashverosh couldn’t fall sleep… At the pinnacle of peril in Megillat Esther, the story of Purim, megillah readers briefly switch to the melody of Yom Kippur. Why is this? Rabbi Greenland, International Director of NCSY, explains that by looking at Jewish history not as timeline, but more

    posted by , on March 13, 2014