Articles

A d'var Torah from Laynie Soloman (they/them), Associate Rosh Yeshiva at SVARA. On Parshat Pinchas, Laynie traces how the rabbis reframed a violent zealot's act as prayer, opening a path to understanding zealousness as expressing justice rather than harm.

“You have gone too far! For all the community is holy and God is in their midst. Why then do you lift yourselves above God’s congregation?”

How can we trust leaders who use people-oriented language to take on personal gain? Parshat Korach is often viewed as a righteous rebellion against authority, but in this D'var Rabbi Lizz Goldstein offers a critique of Korach's self-gratifying action. 

"That shall be your fringe; look at it and remember all God’s commandments and do them, so that you do not follow your heart and eyes in your urge to stray." Numbers 15:39. 

Parshat Shalach is well known for its depiction of the 12 scouts who survey Canaan before the Israelites enter the land, yet the outcome of this parashah is less so. Shalach introduces the mitzvah of tzitzit, the ritual fringes that adorn the corners of Jewish garments. Tzitzit provide a physical reminder of God's presence, becoming like a rope to grasp onto amidst overwhelming river currents (Bamidbar Rabbah 17:6).

"Would that all God's people were prophets!" When Joshua asks Moses to restrain Eldad and Medad, two Israelites who received the divine spirit without authorization, Moses refuses to be jealous and wishes instead that everyone could prophesy. The prophets stood at the meeting of the sacred and the just, and prophecy did not end with the Biblical canon. Maimonides shows that it is a spiritual practice, one that rests on hearts immersed in joy and remains open to all. The call of this moment is to emulate Eldad and Medad, to embody love and immerse ourselves in practice, so that each of us can channel the prophetic voice our times so urgently need.

Sarah Hurwitz’s remarks at the Jewish Federations’ General Assembly frame antisemitism as an exceptional, ever-present hatred and describe criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza as a misunderstanding born of Holocaust education, which obscures the real violence Palestinians are facing. The Torah story of Jacob and Esau, and its various interpretations, show how rabbinic and Zionist interpretations turned Esau into the archetypal non-Jew, seeing their conflict as a pre-figuration of hatred of Jews as an unchangeable law that binds the Jewish nation together. Returning to the plain meaning of the story allows for a reinvestigation of the themes to move us beyond this misformulation of antisemitism.

Qian Julie Wang reflects on how both American culture and American Judaism often define identity through victimhood, turning suffering into a kind of currency that fuels competition and vengeance rather than justice or healing. Drawing on the Binding of Isaac, she contrasts readings of Isaac as helpless victim or empowered adult to show that we can choose to live from agency instead of powerlessness. In this season of teshuvah, she calls us to reclaim power and privilege not as tainted words but as sacred responsibilities, reminding us that each of us is both David and Goliath, oppressed and oppressor. Our task is to embrace the perspective that empowers us to care for one another and to build a world where suffering is not the measure of worth.