Parasha Vayakhel is almost a word-by-word repetition found earlier in the book of Shmot of how to build the Tabernacle. Rather than rehash what others have spoken about in the past several weeks, today I will focus on the first couple of verses of the parasha. G-d commands the Israelites to keep the Shabbat, keep […]
Tis the season. Since it is Shabbat, I hope everyone planned ahead to fulfill the mitzvah of Chinese food and a movie on Christmas. Your festive meal may just have to wait until Motzi Shabbat this year. There is no escaping the music of the season. Hanukkah has long since passed and with-it Dreidel, Dreidel, […]
It is wonderful that our Kehillah has taken the step toward Shabbat morning normalcy by returning to an in-person minyan. Today marks the sixth service in a row we have had an in-person minyan. Thank-you to the core group, Becca, Joel, Mike, Rachelle, Bill, Barry, and Daniel, who continued to show up each week to […]
Shabbat Shalom.
This week has been very memorable for the Kehillah as we all came together as a community to discuss how we will meet again in person. The last time we met in person was on March 14 after some debate if we should follow the lead of others and even hold services.
It has now […]
And these are the rules that you shall set before them. When you acquire a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years; in the seventh year he shall go free, without payment. If he came single, he shall leave single; if he had a wife, his wife shall leave with him. If his master gave […]
This is my paternal lineage
The descendants of Natan ha Kohen.
Yosef ben Natan ha Kohen – Born 1864 Russia begot
Nachum ben Yosef ha Kohen – Born 1890 in Birmingham – begot
Moshe ben Nachum ha Kohen begot
Aharon Shalom ben Moshe ha Kohen – Born 1960 (that’s me)
The maternal side of my family is only traceable to my […]
This week we read Shoftim which translated means judges. Fortunately, the first few verses was all I needed to formulate my d’var. The majority of the parsha was difficult to get through and stay awake. The Torah and more important the rabbis over the centuries continue to impress me with the amount of knowledge and […]
Feed My Starving Children was a huge success for the Kehillah. Twenty-one members of Kehillat Chaverim volunteered their time to pack meals for the organization. We gathered at their Richardson location, listened to a brief orientation and set of instructions, donned our hairnets, washed our hands, and started packing meals for El Salvador.
Some people scooped […]
I received inspiration for this d’var from a podcast discussion between the host Jonathan Silver of the Tikvah Project and his guest, Rabbi Daniel Gordis of Shalem College in Israel. They discussed the growing divide between Israeli and American Jews. No longer do we live in an American society where support for Israel is automatic […]
The
following refrain is from the 1982 song performed by
Quarterflash. When I read this week’s parasha, Va’era, this song popped
into my head.
I’m gonna swallow my tearsI’m gonna harden my heartI’m gonna turn and leave you here
Anyone
remember that one? It certainly received its fair share of radio play. And it brought forth once again the notion the
lessons […]
