Talmud of America
My recent posts..."Talmud of America" Pardes Institute, a non-denominational study center based in Jerusalem, offers immersive Jewish learning around the world. One project is “Talmud of America,” which aims to illuminate and interpret, through Jewish eyes, some...
Twilight Zone
My recent posts...Twilight Zone בֵּין הַשְׁמָשׁוֹת Bein hashemashot, literally, between the suns. בֵּין הַשְׁמָשׁוֹת A twilight zone of time, or rather, out of time, between one day and the next. Our sages of old used this concept to explain certain miraculous...
When to Pray Yizkor
My recent posts...My edited comments from this past final day of Pesach. Ellie’s mom, Julia Helfman, died on her 95th birthday, December 24, 2025. This was the first Yizkor service Ellie feels obligated to attend. She said, “I’m now a member of a club I was not eager...
Timing
It had become a Kremer household Pesach tradition, or rather, a pre-Pesach tradition. Somewhere within a couple of days prior the first seder and noon on erev Pesach, something would go awry in the kitchen.
Sanctity of the Camp
This week’s Torah portion, Naso, includes an injunction to send those who are ritually impure “out of the contamination range” (Etz Hayim) of the mishkan, the portable sanctuary at the center of the Israelite’s encampment.
The impure are to be moved beyond the bounds of the Israelite camp, however that was determined. How far was far enough to keep impurity pollution from driving Adonai from the mishkan, Adonai’s dwelling place among the Israelites: The other side of the outermost row of tents? The back edge of the grazing area? That rock over there?
Are there limits to that which can contaminate the civic sanctuary at the center of the American camp? Contaminants such as unyielding ideologies, willful blindness, or wishful thinking, are not limited to only one political party; they are everywhere!
Better that we seek to cast light rather than sling mud; that we pursue truth rather than power; that we foster compassion within the community that America could be, should be.
For those efforts, there are no limits.
Shabbat shalom ! שבת שלום