Who Shall I Say is Calling?

Rabbi Joshua Davidson’s 5784 Yom Kippur Sermon  “Who Shall I Say is Calling?”  “Who by fire? Who by water? Who in the sunshine? Who in the nighttime? Who by high ordeal? Who by common trial?…And who shall I say is calling?”1 Leonard Cohen composed those verses after singing for Israeli soldiers in the Sinai desert …

Torah Commentary on Korach by Bettijane Eisenpreis

Bettijane Eisenpreis Parashah for June 24, 2023 Torah Commentary by Bettijane Eisenpreis “All the sacred gifts that the Israelites set aside for Adonai, I give to you, to your sons, and to the daughters that are with you, as a due for all time. It shall be an everlasting covenant of salt before Adonai for …

Torah Commentary on B’haalot’cha by Bettijane Eisenpreis

Bettijane Eisenpreis Parashah for June 10, 2023 Torah Commentary by Bettijane Eisenpreis “On the day that the Tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the Tabernacle, the Tent of the Pact; and in the evening it rested over the Tabernacle in the likeness of fire until morning. … At a command of the Lord, the …

Torah Commentary on Va-Yakhel/Pekudei by Bettijane Eisenpreis

Bettijane Eisenpreis Parashah for March 18, 2023 On Saturday, March 18, Temple Emanu-El welcomes Orly Erez-Likhovski, Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), who will discuss religious pluralism in Israel. Click here to learn more about this special service and luncheon. Torah Commentary by Bettijane Eisenpreis “And Moses said to the Israelites: See the …

Torah Commentary by Bettijane Eisenpreis: Parashat Beshalach – February 4, 2023

Bettijane Eisenpreis Parashat for February 4, 2023 This Saturday, February 4, at 9:15 AM, Rabbi Dalia Marx, Ph.D., Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Liturgy and Midrash at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem will lead a special Torah Study session on the topic Tu BiSh’vat: A Growing Holiday. This session will be in-person and on Zoom and …

Torah Commentary by Bettijane Eisenpreis: Parashat Noach – October 29, 2022

October 29, 2022 Temple members can click here for more details on weekly Torah study at Emanu-El and how to register. Congregants are always welcome to send us their Torah commentary. If you would like to contribute, please contact Erica Slutsky to learn more. by Bettijane Eisenpreis And they said, “Come, let us build us a city, …

Torah Commentary by Bettijane Eisenpreis: Parashat Ekev – August 20, 2022

August 20, 2022 Torah study is for temple members is currently on summer break and will resume on Saturday, September 10. Keep checking here for more details and how to register. Congregants are always welcome to send us their Torah commentary. If you would like to contribute, please contact Erica Slutsky to learn more. by Bettijane Eisenpreis …

Parashat Behar

May 21, 2022 by Bettijane Eisenpreis Then you shall sound the horn loud; in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month – the Day of Atonement – you shall have the horn sounded throughout the land and you shall hallow the fiftieth year. You shall proclaim release throughout the land for all …

Parashat Mishpatim

January 29, 2022 by Bettijane Eisenpreis When you encounter your enemy’s ox or ass wandering, you must take it back to him. When you see the ass of your enemy lying under its burden and would refrain from raising it, you must nevertheless raise it with him. Exodus 23: 4-5 Parashat Mishpatim is an incredibly …

Parashat Va-Yeshev

November 27, 2021 by Bettijane Eisenpreis And when he told (his dream) to his father and brothers, his father berated him. “What,” he said to him, “is this dream you have dreamed? Are we to come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow low to the ground?” So his brothers were wrought up …

Parashat Nitzavim

September 4, 2021 by Bettijane Eisenpreis “You are standing this day, all of you, before the Lord your God – your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp …” — Deuteronomy 29:9 The lines quoted above are among the most …

Parashat Va-Ethanan

July 17, 2021 by Bettijane Eisenpreis “For your own sake, therefore, be most careful – since you saw no shape when the Lord your God spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire – not to act wickedly and make for yourselves a sculptured image in any likeness whatever…”  — Deuteronomy 4: 15-16 The …