It's summer travel season, which aligns with the approaching spiritual season nine weeks ahead.Wonderful as travel can be, travelers can tire from traveling – the need to get somewhere, the hurry up and wait, the grip of the wheel. Travelers get bumped and bruised, hot and bothered. We all are travelers – whether vacationers or journeyers on the… Continue reading Our Cities of Refuge (P. Matot-Masei)
Rabbi’s Corner: July 2026 – We Hold These Truths
In a hot Philadelphia boarding house, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence that still reverberates 250 years later: "We hold these truths to be self-evident...." If truths were self-evident in 1776, then we can expect to find them long before, including in Jewish wisdom many centuries earlier. By Rabbi David Evan Markus During this 250th anniversary of… Continue reading Rabbi’s Corner: July 2026 – We Hold These Truths
Don’t Sound the Alarm (P. Pinhas)
This week marks 10 weeks until Rosh Hashanah. Torah, always uncannily on time, reminds us this week about Rosh Hashanah and the shofar.For a practice so symbolic, so core, so cellular in resonance and impact, it's odd that Torah does not tell us why we connect Rosh Hashanah with shofar. And Torah also left it… Continue reading Don’t Sound the Alarm (P. Pinhas)
When We Lose It (P. Hukkat-Balak)
Just about all humans have the propensity to lose it. Something gets our goat. Something rubs us wrong. Something deep inside ferments and bubbles over. A slow burn suddenly flames out. When we judge harshly, or lose our temper, or lash out, it can seem like we are responding first and foremost to whatever "something" has our… Continue reading When We Lose It (P. Hukkat-Balak)
Jews in Space, and Where We Come From (P. Korach)
As a comic, Mel Brooks has been cutting edge for decades. As a Jewish comic, Mel Brooks has been as traditional as they come.Amidst all his antics, Mel Brooks and his comedy transmit a core truth: one secrets of Jewish continuity and strength always has been remembering where we come from.Modern Jewish astronauts, unfathomable decades ago,… Continue reading Jews in Space, and Where We Come From (P. Korach)
“Let All God’s People Be Prophets” (P. Beha’alotekha)
Maybe we imagine that the ideal of Jewish spirituality turns most on a spiritual leader. Throughout history, rank-and-file Jews often deferred to spiritual leaders – from Moses to modern professional rabbis. Often they imagined that heightened spiritual connectivity was the special calling and province of the few.This week's Torah portion underscores that this pattern was wrong… Continue reading “Let All God’s People Be Prophets” (P. Beha’alotekha)
Our Greatest Interests of All (P. Behar-Behukotai)
Money can be a sensitive subject, which is one reason Torah bans charging interest among our people. (The Qur'an does the same for Muslims.)Torah and Qur'an are aiming at far more than money: after all, most of us don't lend money. This mitzvah is really about relationships and right use of power, which spiritually are far more… Continue reading Our Greatest Interests of All (P. Behar-Behukotai)
Counting Our Days for Spiritual Healing (P. Emor)
On Torah's sacred calendar, most every holiday begins either at the new moon or the full moon. Our calendar is in the sky, shining down on us every day.There are two exceptions to this new moon / full moon calendar. One is Yom Kippur, for which we count days since Rosh Hashanah. The other is… Continue reading Counting Our Days for Spiritual Healing (P. Emor)
Learning the Love that Matters Most (P. Aharei Mot-Kedoshim)
There are things we learn from our parents.There are things we learn from first encounters with the sacred.There are things we learn only by going out into the world.There are things we learn by walking a mile in others' shoes.There are things we learn by overcoming the impulses of retribution and hatred.Truly loving our neighbor… Continue reading Learning the Love that Matters Most (P. Aharei Mot-Kedoshim)
The Thing We Say, After We Say The Thing: P. Tazria-Metzora
We humans tend to talk... and talk... and talk. As social creatures reared for community, what we say and how we say it are part of our social bond and social currency.And being the social creatures we are, often we speak about others – maybe more than we know. For our spiritual ancestors, speaking of others… Continue reading The Thing We Say, After We Say The Thing: P. Tazria-Metzora
Did God Do That? P. Shemini
Why do we believe or not believe? Why do our beliefs change? There are countless reasons. You have yours.One reason, I've come to sense, is how religious and spiritual concepts are conveyed – which, for most of us, requires translation from Hebrew.The thing is, translations aren't value-neutral, which can tilt much of what we learn… Continue reading Did God Do That? P. Shemini
When the Liberation Began (Passover 2026)
As we have for many centuries, the Children of Israel will gather at Passover seders to celebrate the liberation of bygone days.When we gather with family and friends, we would do well to ask what liberation is, and when the ancient liberation began.Why? Because the answers bear pivotally on who we are and what Passover… Continue reading When the Liberation Began (Passover 2026)
The Sign On Your Forehead (P. Tetzaveh)
Know it or not, each of us wears a sign on our forehead. It tells others who we are. Even more, it tells others who they are.We'd all be far better if we remembered the sign we wear on our foreheads. By Rabbi David Evan MarkusTetzaveh 5786 (2026) On my recent travels to California and Florida, the most prominent highway… Continue reading The Sign On Your Forehead (P. Tetzaveh)
Commanding Joy (When the World Is A Mess): P. Terumah
Nobody needs me to confirm that vast swaths of our world burn like a raging dumpster fire. Judaism is about reality-based reality. We do not pretend away trouble or turn a blind eye. We certainly do not fiddle while Rome burns. Yet even so – precisely so – the Jewish calendar encodes a radical and wise spiritual… Continue reading Commanding Joy (When the World Is A Mess): P. Terumah
Justice and a World Blind and Toothless: P. Mishpatim
In a world of passive aggression, physical and emotional aggression, and mounting societal outrage, there can be instinctive allure to Torah's "eye for an eye" maxim about justice.Except it doesn't mean what the millennia made it out to mean. What principles should guide us in addressing bad behavior? When – if ever – does "like"… Continue reading Justice and a World Blind and Toothless: P. Mishpatim
The Way They Will Walk (P. Yitro)
When I was a Harvard graduate student lo many years ago, person-sized Biblical words about law looked down on me every day from atop one of the academic buildings.They look down on me still – and on you, and on our country. By Rabbi David Evan MarkusYitro 5786 (2026)I rarely discuss my professional pedigree: I myself… Continue reading The Way They Will Walk (P. Yitro)
The bittersweet fickleness of faith: P. Beshalah
Even the most faithful among us have times of forgetting, doubting and disbelieving. Lifelong learning, gratitude and perspective suddenly can fly out the window.Even the most faithless among us have times of belief that challenge rationalism, atheism and all other -isms. Clutched certainty of disbelief, and with it clarity about how life is, suddenly can fall… Continue reading The bittersweet fickleness of faith: P. Beshalah
Gifts of foresight: P. Bo
How do we perceive the world – as it is becoming or as a projection of ourselves?How do we perceive the future? Do we see the future merely continuing a past or present, or brimming with possibility? A rare few among us – the prophets of old, and modern visionaries like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King,… Continue reading Gifts of foresight: P. Bo
What’s In a Name? P. Vaera
We call our beloveds by many names. Whether a given name, an adopted name, a "pet" name or something else, each name encodes a special relationship and a story about it.Why should it be different for the Beloved that we call God? It's not. "God" isn't a Name but a role, a function. As for the… Continue reading What’s In a Name? P. Vaera
The Angelic Art of Redemption: P. Vayehi
Before it's all said and done, what do we make of the dust-ups, hurts, disappointments and dramas of our messy lives?it's tempting to answer that we bear them as best we can, and even make meaning of them – and hopefully we do. But is there more?Is there a way to redeem what happens in… Continue reading The Angelic Art of Redemption: P. Vayehi
David Evan Markus 