A D’var Torah for Parashat Nitzavim-Vayeilekh We stand on the shoulders of giants. Much that we have, much that we are becoming, are harvests of trees our ancestors planted. We inherit their shalshelet – their spiritual and practical causation both wise and unwise, healthy and not – along with what they received from their ancestry. Legacy courses… Continue reading Tomorrow’s Giants On Our Shoulders

There’s gotta be a reason. What’s happening now must be a reaction to something that came before. Someone must be responsible: maybe me, maybe you, maybe all of us. Any God that is good and fair must have some purpose in all this – right? We sense this yearning for “why” just under the surface. After all,… Continue reading Into and Through Tisha b’Av: Our Fragile Alchemy of “Why”

“Silent” Tribute to the Dead of Covid-19 A D’var Torah for Parashat Shemini By Rabbi David Markus Spiritually speaking, what should we say amidst 120,000 covid-19 deaths? Surely there must be something we should say, some right response – right? If these questions land a gut punch, if they rouse gnawing emptiness, if they jumble emotions and singe the… Continue reading “Silent” Tribute to the Dead of Covid-19

Parashat Vayehi 5780 A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayehi By Rabbi David Markus This last Torah portion of the Book of Genesis (Vayeḥi) concludes the drama of Jacob, Joseph and his brothers. The dramatic saga – their troubled family dynamics, power and power inversions, regret, guilt, fear, their very lives – it all finally reaches a settled… Continue reading Live Like You’re Dying

Parashat Hayei Sarah A D’var Torah for Parashat Hayei Sarah By Rabbi David MarkusI stopped counting how often I hear, “God loves me: I got a great parking spot.” Even some clergy, spiritual directors and theologians have a soft spot for the Angel of Miraculous Parking. I too admit to invoking Hanayat-El (from hanayah / ”parking”) under my breath.… Continue reading Parking lot angels, intercessory prayer, and being real

Rosh Hashanah brings a spiritual lag between the year’s reboot and Torah’s reboot, like our northern latitude’s seasonal lag between sun angle and temperature. This spiritual lag raises two questions. First, shouldn’t Rosh Hashanah, which recalls the Yom Harat Olam (Creation’s birthday) of Genesis 1, therefore also be Simhat Torah to reboot the Torah cycle at the same… Continue reading Making sense of spiritual lag

A D’var Torah for Parashat Va’ethanan By Rabbi David Markus It’s fitting that the “Jewish greatest hits” of Parashat Va’ethanan come immediately after Tisha b’Av. After our spiritual calendar’s lowest day, Torah promises that anyone who seeks God with whole heart and soul will find God exactly where we are – even in exile (Deut. 4:27-29). We stand again… Continue reading Looking for Love in All the Rough Places

A D'var Torah for Parashat Beha'alotekha by Rabbi David Markus What does God need of our spirituality, what do we need of it, and how do we know? These questions cast long theological shadows across sacred tradition, and efforts at clarity often generate more heat than light. It’s with those questions in mind that I… Continue reading Lighting Us Up: Theology, Pluralism and Becoming the Menorah

Yom Kippur Asks “Answers” – Not Just “Afflictions” A D’var Torah for Parashat Acharei Mot By Rabbi David Markus This week’s parashah (Acharei Mot) brings Torah’s first mention of Yom Kippur (#sorry), so each year this parashah starts me thinking about the High Holy Days (#notsorry). Each year, I recall how three words in this parashah once drove me from Judaism.… Continue reading Yom Kippur Asks “Answers” – Not Just “Afflictions”

Controlling the High Price of Judaism (and Guilt) A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayikra By Rabbi David Markus The Jewish value of tzedakah underscores that to “be Jewish” is partly to “do Jewish,” and to “do Jewish” means to support others. That’s one reason that Judaism calls for tzedakah as charitable acts of support for others that double as communal… Continue reading Controlling the High Price of Judaism (and Guilt)

ACADEMY FOR JEWISH RELIGION Faculty Meeting Dvar Torah January 24, 2019 Good morning everyone.  I'm delighted to join the AJR family.  Thank you to Ora for the invitation to teach, and to Jeff for inviting me to open with my long experience of one whole day on the AJR Faculty. We're in Parshat Yitro.  Our… Continue reading Seeing the Voices: The Call of Teaching in Spiritual Formation

It's an occupational hazard. We clergy so delight in bringing Torah to life and liturgy to life that we might unashamedly “geek out” – especially when we do both at the same time. When I link Torah with liturgy in ways that enliven both, my joy can be irrepressible. (Thankfully my New York congregation seems to like it,… Continue reading Answering With Great Joy