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Balak: A Blueprint for Blessings
by Yael Turitz Kaplan '27 I’ve been thinking a lot about blessings lately. This summer, I am privileged to be completing a unit of...

Yael Turitz Kaplan
1 hour ago


Parshat Chukat: Miriam’s Life in Five Words
by Rabbanit Dalia Davis '22 The six-word memoir is a succinct and trendy way to summarize one’s life. At workshops and conferences around...

Rabbanit Dalia Davis
Jul 3


Parshat Korach: Smart Women
by Anna Veronese '28 This dvar Torah is dedicated to the many smart women of Yeshivat Maharat, with whom I have the honor to learn. A...

Anna Veronese
Jun 26


Parshat Shelach: Grasshoppers and Giants: Healing the Inner Rift of Shelach
by Rabbi Yali Szulanski Parshat Shelach opens with stunning possibilities. The people of Israel stand at the edge of fulfillment, poised...

Yali Szulanski
Jun 18


Naso: Conformity as Holiness
by Rabbi Marianne Novak ' 19 When I was an offsite student at Maharat, I was privileged to be able to come into the Beit Midrash once a...

Rabbi Marianne Novak
Jun 5


The First and Second Tablets
The Talmud Yerushalmi asks a deceptively simple question, “How were the tablets written?” After a debate about the number of commandments...

Rabbi Jeff Fox
May 29


Behar-Bechukotai: Shemittah—The Law that Defines Us
by Susan Hornstein '25 Our parsha opens with the laws of Shemittah, the Sabbatical year. Shemittah has it all! It has every kind of...

Susan Hornstein
May 22


Emor: Disability and the Divine Gaze—Reexamining the Category of “Mum”
by Anna Eisenstat Rimerman '27 Our parsha introduces a deeply challenging concept: ritual limitations for “a person with a blemish,” “ish...

Anna Eisenstat Rimerman
May 15


Acharei Mot: Sacred Silence and Simple Linen
by Yehudit Mazur-Shlomi '27 Parshat Acharei Mot, or After the Death, begins with instructions given to Aaron after the tragic passing of...

Yehudit Mazur-Shlomi
May 8


Tazria-Metzora: The Purity in Embodied Knowledge
by Sofia Freudenstein '25 In Bava Metzia 86a, there is a very unusual story about Rabba Bar Nachmani, on the run from Babylonian...

Sofia Freudenstein
May 1


Shemini: The Sound of Silence
by Michal Fox Smart '28 Why would anyone volunteer to write a parsha blog due the week before Pesach? I will explain. The spreadsheet for...

Michal Fox Smart
Apr 24


Pesach: A Collective Voyage
by Chana Borrow '26 Growing up, I thought I understood the Passover seder. It was simple: tell the story, eat dinner, find the afikoman ....

Chana Borow
Apr 17


Parshat Tzav/Shabbat Hagadol: What Does It Mean To Be Free
by Chanchkie Slavin '26 I wonder what it means to be free? We talk about it, celebrate it, even dedicate a whole festival to it. But what...
Chanchkie Slavin
Apr 10


Mind The Gap
On the seventh day of Pesach, we will read "Shirat ha-Yam" (the Song of the Sea) marking a joyous celebration within the Exodus. At this...

Rabbi Jeff Fox
Apr 9


Parshat Vayikra: When Words Aren't Enough
by Ariel Wolgel '26 What can we say when sorry just isn’t enough? How might we proceed when we cannot find the words to move through...

Ariel Wolgel
Apr 3


Parshat Pekudei: The Wise Women's Mirrors
by Rabbanit Dr. Devorah Schoenfeld '19 Mishlei 3:19-20 describes wisdom as a primordial force that existed prior to creation: The LORD...

Rabbanit Dr. Devorah Schoenfeld
Mar 27


Parshat Vayekhel: Our Work is to Combine
by Shoshana Jakobovits '26 The beginning of the book of Shemot is absolutely breathtaking: the burning bush, ten plagues, the Exodus from...

Shoshana Jakobovits
Mar 20


Ki Tissa: Hidden Faces, Revealed Connections
by Lilinaz Evans '27 One of the most striking moments in parshat Ki Tissa is the intimate, direct communication between God and Moshe....

Lilinaz Evans
Mar 13


The Infamous Purim Seudah
Rava said, “A person is obligated to become intoxicated on Purim until they are unable to distinguish between ‘cursed is Haman’ and...

Rabbi Jeff Fox
Mar 12


Tetzaveh/Zachor: Examining How, Exactly, the Mighty Have Fallen
by Jennifer Zukerman '28 When I was about seven years old, my mother asked me to see if the mail had been delivered. I returned to report...

Jennifer Zukerman
Mar 6
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