“Have you but one blessing, Father? Bless me too, Father!” These might just be the most heartbreaking words in the whole Torah. Isaac, old and blind, is nearing death. He wants to give a special blessing to his favorite son, Esau...

I know it’s just a coincidence, but every year around now, I can’t help but appreciate the timing of our Torah reading cycle with the upcoming holidays. Thanksgiving and Chanukah (or Christmas) are, of course, the occasions when many people make a special effort to be with our extended families.

Pop quiz: what does Vice-President JD Vance have in common with a fictional rabbi? The answer: both Vance and Noah Roklov, the charming rabbi in the TV show “Nobody Wants This,” want their partners to convert to their religions.

This week we lost Rabbi Arthur Waskow, the great rabbi, author, and activist for progressive causes. I wanted to share a little bit about him with you, as well as some of his insights into this week’s Torah portion.

I’m not what you’d call a morning person. I don’t normally jump out of bed in the morning, and especially not on a Monday. But this week was an exception.

Shabbat Sukkot Adapted from a story by Debra Gordon Zaslow Once, long ago, there was a young couple who were truly in love. They decided to be married in the autumn under the canopy of the sukkah in the presence of their friends and relatives. When the time came, they invited the ushpizin , the spirits of the ancestors who are traditionally invited into the sukkah during the holiday. They said their vows with the full moon peeking through the s’chach  that lined the sukkah ro

On January 14, 1963, George Wallace was sworn in as the governor of Alabama. In his inaugural address, he declared, “In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”

John Milton describes Samson, the Israelite leader from the Book of Judges, in his epic poem Samson Agonistes. You probably know at least part of the story. Samson is raised as a Nazirite, a person specially consecrated to God, whose consecration is demonstrated by never cutting his hair.

Two old Jews are sitting on a park bench in Nazi Germany. One is reading a Yiddish newspaper, and the other is reading Der Sturmer. When the second man starts chuckling to himself, the first man cries, “It isn’t enough that you’re reading that Nazi rag, but now you actually find it funny?!” The second man answers, “Look, if I read your paper, what do I see? Jews deported, Jews assaulted…but in this one, I finally get some good news! It turns out, we run the banks the governme