Share Link copied! LESSON PLAN A suggested lesson plan outline for incorporating these resources into a single 60-minute class. Download PDF Summary In this unit you can find resources and texts which explore the values of responsibility and activism in Jewish thought, and specifically the thought of Rabbi Sacks. As well as texts from the writings of Rabbi Sacks,…
The Parsha in a Nutshell This summary is adapted from this week’s main Covenant & Conversation essay by Rabbi Sacks, available to read in full via the left sidebar (or below, if you are viewing this on your phone) In this week’s parsha, we repeatedly read of social halacha that is couched in the language of family. For example, “When…
…that terrible passage in the Torah portion of Bechukotai, in the 26th chapter of the book of Leviticus known as the Tochacha, the passage that describes the curses that will, God forbid, befall Israel as a people if they disobey God. It is such a traumatic, terrifying passage that when we read it in the synagogue, we read it in an undertone….
One of the most striking features of the Torah is its emphasis on love of, and vigilance toward, the ger, the stranger: Do not oppress a stranger; you yourselves know how it feels to be strangers, because you were strangers in Egypt. Ex. 23:9 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God,…
Each year, as we near the end of the Mosaic books and Moses’ life, I find myself asking: Did it really have to end that way, with Moses denied the chance to even to set foot on the land to which he led the people for forty tempestuous years? In the Heavenly Court, could Justice not have yielded to Mercy…
Being warned of the bad helps us to choose the good. Too often we make the wrong choices because we don’t think of the consequences. That’s how global warming happened. That’s how financial crashes happen. That’s how societies lose their solidarity. Too often, people think of today, not the day after tomorrow. The Torah, painting in the most graphic detail…
Though the people may be faithless to God, God will never be faithless to the people. He may punish them but He will not abandon them. He may judge them harshly but He will not forget their ancestors who followed Him, nor will He break the covenant He made with our ancestors. God does not break His promises even if…