Weekly Torah Portion: Re’eh (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17)
In this Torah portion, Moses tells the Israelites that if they worship idols, they will be punished. Moses explains the laws of kosher food, and he details the three pilgrimage festivals: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Read an extensive summary on My Jewish Learning
Related D’var Torah
“If we do this reaching out with open arms, this month of Elul, then won’t it be sweet, come Rosh Hashanah, to gather together – a community, not of saints, but of menschen, human beings, ‘decent people’…” – Rabbi Lisa Edwards in 2002. Read the full drash
“This isn’t what I ever imagined for my son,” said a mother to Fran recently about the fact that her son is gay. “No,” said Fran,”Im sure it isn’t, but how great that you’re here for him.” – Rabbi Lisa Edwards in 2000. Read the full drash
“Some of us went last night to yet another rally in West Hollywood – this one to protest yesterday’s CA Supreme Court decision “invalidating” the over 4,000 weddings that took place between same gender couples in San Francisco this past February.” – Rabbi Lisa Edwards in 2004. Read the full drash
Torah Verse of the Week*
“Give readily and have no regrets when you do, for in return your God will bless you in all your efforts and in all your undertakings.”
(Parashat Re’eh; Deuteronomy 15:10)
Other Suggested Readings
For its August 11, 2009 edition, The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles invited BCC Rabbi Lisa Edwards to write a drash on the week’s torah portion, Re’eh. The drash, entitled “Is It Sufficient”, ties the tragedy at the Tel Aviv LGBT Center to the need for us to “learn to open our hearts and our hands…to lend support where it is needed.” read the drash
In ‘Observe What I Enjoin Upon You,’ Gregg Drinkwater discusses what the verse – Be careful to observe only that which I enjoin upon you; neither add to it nor take away from it (Deut. 13:1) – means to LGBT Jews. Read in the archive of Telephone Torah Study
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*Torah Verse of the Week is chosen by the Torah class during Tuesdays’ studies with Rabbi Lisa Edwards. Check out when our next Torah Study takes place
