The Jewish sages taught that when we study the Torah we should continuously turn it and turn it, like a gem with countless facets, looking for new and deeper meanings. In this volume of essays on each weekly Torah portion Rabbi Jonathan Kligler shares choice insights from his decades of study and teaching. Drawing on both ancient and modern sources, and weaving scholarship and personal stories, Kligler invites the reader to investigate the countless layers of insight and inspiration that vibrant...
Sep 12, 2021•9 min
The Jewish sages taught that when we study the Torah we should continuously turn it and turn it, like a gem with countless facets, looking for new and deeper meanings. In this volume of essays on each weekly Torah portion Rabbi Jonathan Kligler shares choice insights from his decades of study and teaching. Drawing on both ancient and modern sources, and weaving scholarship and personal stories, Kligler invites the reader to investigate the countless layers of insight and inspiration that vibrant...
Sep 05, 2021•8 min
Spiritual Preparation For The High Holy Days | 5782 | September 2 by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
Sep 03, 2021•1 hr 1 min
The Jewish sages taught that when we study the Torah we should continuously turn it and turn it, like a gem with countless facets, looking for new and deeper meanings. In this volume of essays on each weekly Torah portion Rabbi Jonathan Kligler shares choice insights from his decades of study and teaching. Drawing on both ancient and modern sources, and weaving scholarship and personal stories, Kligler invites the reader to investigate the countless layers of insight and inspiration that vibrant...
Aug 29, 2021•8 min
We are entering a Shmitah year - every seventh year in the Jewish calendar is a "sabbatical" or "Shmitah" year. We are instructed to let our land rest, and to release debts as well. How can this idea of "letting go" free us to enter a New Year?
Aug 27, 2021•50 min
The Jewish sages taught that when we study the Torah we should continuously turn it and turn it, like a gem with countless facets, looking for new and deeper meanings. In this volume of essays on each weekly Torah portion Rabbi Jonathan Kligler shares choice insights from his decades of study and teaching. Drawing on both ancient and modern sources, and weaving scholarship and personal stories, Kligler invites the reader to investigate the countless layers of insight and inspiration that vibrant...
Aug 22, 2021•8 min
Exploring the gematria in the TANAKH for the new year, 5782.
Aug 20, 2021•55 min
The Jewish sages taught that when we study the Torah we should continuously turn it and turn it, like a gem with countless facets, looking for new and deeper meanings. In this volume of essays on each weekly Torah portion Rabbi Jonathan Kligler shares choice insights from his decades of study and teaching. Drawing on both ancient and modern sources, and weaving scholarship and personal stories, Kligler invites the reader to investigate the countless layers of insight and inspiration that vibrant...
Aug 15, 2021•13 min
Exploring the gematria in the TANAKH for the new year, 5782.
Aug 13, 2021•1 hr 4 min
The Jewish sages taught that when we study the Torah we should continuously turn it and turn it, like a gem with countless facets, looking for new and deeper meanings. In this volume of essays on each weekly Torah portion Rabbi Jonathan Kligler shares choice insights from his decades of study and teaching. Drawing on both ancient and modern sources, and weaving scholarship and personal stories, Kligler invites the reader to investigate the countless layers of insight and inspiration that vibrant...
Aug 08, 2021•13 min
36 Be'ha'a'lotkha | Insights from the Weekly Torah Portion with Rabbi Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
May 27, 2021•54 min
35 Naso | Insights from the Weekly Torah Portion with Rabbi Jonathan by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
May 21, 2021•58 min
As Aviva Zornberg explains, the term "bewildered" derives from "wilderness", as in a trackless expanse where one easily loses one's bearings. This is the condition of the Children of Israel. How can they learn to find their bearings, so that they might reach the promised land. Somehow, they must learn to have faith and a sense of purpose to guide them - as do we all.
May 14, 2021•50 min
Our Torah ancestors were an agrarian society, acutely aware that they must live in harmony with the needs of the earth and the creatures with whom they shared the land. Hence, the rules for the Sabbatical year, when the land rests fallow, and the Jubilee year, when land is redistributed, with the understanding that we do not and cannot own the earth. We align this wisdom to the wisdom of Native Peoples of our continent, as Robin Wall Kimrerer writes in her book "Braiding Sweetgrass."
May 07, 2021•1 hr 1 min
33 Bekhukotai | Fear Itself | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
May 02, 2021•10 min
32 Behar | We Do Not Own the Earth | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
May 02, 2021•8 min
31 Emor | Insights from the Weekly Torah Portion with Rabbi Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
Apr 29, 2021•57 min
31 Emor | An Eye for an Eye? | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
Apr 25, 2021•7 min
Justice is an ideal that the Torah repeatedly insists we must pursue, no matter how difficult to attain. This week's Torah portion coincided with the guilty verdict handed down by the jury in the George Floyd murder trial. Justice was served. The Torah's teachings about what it means to be a good citizen and to live in a just society are an inspiration.
Apr 22, 2021•55 min
30 Kedoshim | The Mitzvah of Tokhekha: Tough Love | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
Apr 18, 2021•11 min
The Torah understands the skin affliction known as Tzara'at to be an indicator of a loss of integrity. The afflicted, known as the Metzora, must undergo a period of isolation and then ritual of reintegration into the community, so that further communal disintegration can be prevented.
Apr 16, 2021•1 hr 4 min
27 Tazri'a | The Meaning of Forty | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
Apr 11, 2021•12 min
29 Akharei Mot | The First Yom Kippur | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
Apr 11, 2021•7 min
28 Metzora | Body as Temple | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
Apr 11, 2021•9 min
Rabbi Jonathan tells the story of his mother's first cousin, one of the "The Nazi-Fighting Women of the Jewish Resistance." For more information: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/schupper-hella-rufeisen https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/opinion/sunday/Jewish-women-Nazi-fighters.html
Apr 08, 2021•53 min
26 Shemini | What Happened to Nadav and Avihu? | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
Apr 02, 2021•12 min
25 Tzav | The Haftarah as Commentary and Critique | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
Apr 02, 2021•8 min
24 Vayikra | Leviticus as Literature | Jonathan Kligler by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
Apr 02, 2021•12 min
At the end of the Book of Exodus, Moses assembles the Mishkan, the dwelling place for the Divine Presence, that the Children of Israel have created. The Torah choice of words brings us right back to the beginning, Genesis, chapter 1, when God creates our world. We are meant to understand that, just as God made us a "house" to dwell in, so we, as God's partners in creation, must create a house in which the Divine Presence is welcome, in our homes, in our communities, and in our hearts.
Mar 12, 2021•56 min
The final act of the book of Exodus is the actual construction of the Mishkan, the dwelling place for the Divine Presence within the Israelite community. A narrative arc is completed:
Mar 07, 2021•7 min
