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Rabbi's Sermons

Parshat Sh'mot

Rabbi David Laor

Shabbat Shalom,

The first time book I knew about the Book of Shemot that we begin this week, it was known to me by the name of Exodus. In Hebrew, Shemot means “NAMES”, and it is taken from the first verse of the book: "These are the NAMES of the people of Israel who came to Egypt...". This name was changed in the Greek septuagint version, to: EXODUS from the Greek ὁδόσ (odos) that means...Read more...

Parshat Vay'hi

Rabbi David Laor

Shabbat Shalom,

This week's Parashah Vayechi, is the Parasha that seals the Book of Genesis. This is a Parasha of endings, summaries, and completions of paths. It completes the personal and family story in the Book of Genesis, in preparation for the sharp transition, next week, from this family extension, to a national and historical sphere.

During this first week of 2025, I...Read more...

Parshat Vayigash

Rabbi David Laor

Shabbat Shalom,

Two main topics appear in this week's portion, Parashat Vayigash. The tale of Genesis, in Chapter 47, is little known and yet, very important in the Biblical story: Yosef's economic reforms in Egypt, during which, on the one hand, he saved the Egyptians from famine and sustained his country, using a strict hierarchical regime, and on the other hand, he separated Egyptian farmers from their lands, and...Read more...

Parshat Miketz

Rabbi David Laor

Shabbat Shalom,

This week’s portion MIKETZ is the miracle Parsha of the week of Chanukah. And usually the Rabbi has a hard time deciding whether to deal with the subject of the Festival of Lights or the weekly portion itself. It turns out that like almost everything in Judaism it can be both.

The weekly Torah portion begins with Pharaoh’s famous dream of the seven fat and...Read more...

Parshat Vayeisheiv

Rabbi David Laor

Shabbat Shalom,

According to historians (Jewish, I assume), there are four prominent Jews who have changed the course of human history:

Moses – Through Moses, the world received the Torah - the basic set of laws for mankind. Jesus – Though he was born, lived and died as a Jew, Jesus became the basis for Christianity - one of the largest religions in the world (although Islam and Buddhism...Read more...

 Parshat Vayishlah

Rabbi David Laor

Shabbat Shalom,

This week, my friend Rabbi Tamara Schifrin in Jerusalem gave a sermon on the weekly Torah portion, and I asked her permission to share some of her ideas that led to a most beautiful sermon with some additions of mine. She writes:

There is a saying: “Never feel useless; you can always be used as a bad example”. And if there is something you can learn from this...Read more...

Parshat Vayeitzei

Rabbi David Laor

Shabbat Shalom,

While living in Israel, I went to a restaurant, and while enjoying my meals, a Haredi religious person came in with a supermarket cart filled with booklets of psalms and frames. The frames included the pictures of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and other rabbis, surrounded by stars of David, or "Shaviti", which is an image of a Menora, formed with the letters of Psalms 16 and 67.

Read more...

Parshat Hayei Sara

Rabbi David Laor

Shabbat Shalom,

This week's portion, Hayei Sara, opens with the text from genesis 23: “1 Sarah’s lifetime—the span of Sarah’s life—came to one hundred and twenty-seven years. 2 Sarah died in Kiriath-arba—now Hebron—in the land of Canaan; and Abraham proceeded to mourn for Sarah and to bewail her”.

According to tradition, each letter in the Torah, may have a...Read more...

Parshat Vayeira

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom,

In Sephardic and Eastern communities, during the religious services of Rosh Hashana, a Piyut or poem reads as follows: “This is the moment the doors will be opened, the day on which my palms will bow before God, please remember on this day of trial, the one who sacrifices, the sacrificed and the altar”. This very long poem written by Rabbi Yehuda Eben Abas, is sung before the sounds...Read more...

Parshat Lekh-L'kha

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom,

“And the Lord had said unto Abram, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee.” Genesis 12:1, so begins the portion of this week, Lech Lecha, and so begins our Patriarch, Abraham, his voyage to a new life, to a new place, to the unknown!

Compared to the epic odyssey of our father...Read more...

Parashat Noah

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom,

The Sumerians, the Mesopotamians, the Hindus, the Chinese, the Koreans, Malaysians, Polynesians and Hawaiian mythologies in Asia. In Europe: the ancient Greeks, the Irish and the Finnish myths. Many African cultures also have an oral tradition of myths, including the Kwaya, Mbuti, Maasai, Mandin, and Yoruba peoples. In Central America, the Maya’s ancient book of Popol Vuh; In South...Read more...

Parshat Bereshit

Rabbi David Laor

Shabbat shalom!

And once again, Letachil miBereshit… like the song of Noemi Shemer… we begin from Bereshit… The Beginning… this first portion of the Torah has so many ideas and topics to discuss, that a whole life would not be enough to read and discuss all of them, by just having readings once a year. According to the Hebrew calendar, we just remembered a couple of days ago at Simchat Torah,...Read more...

Sukkot - Shabbat

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom and Chag Sukkot Sameach!

One of the moments that I enjoy the most in this congregation, is reciting and singing Birkat Hamazon - the grace after meals. In many reform and even conservative communities this important prayer has been relegated to a theoretical level, and right after Oneg Shabbat, everyone is chatting and then, go home! The same thing happens after the morning services. In...Read more...

Sukkot

Rabbi David Laor

Moadim Lesimcha!

Only a few days after Yom Kippur, the calendar takes us to the Feast of Tabernacles - Sukkot, which during the Biblical period and the Second Temple, was the most important and joyful holiday. In fact, in the Talmud, this holiday is simply known as the CHAG - or the "holiday". This holiday has a double symbolism: the agricultural aspect, as it is Chag HeAsif, or gathering of the fruits,...Read more...

Yom Kippur

Rabbi David Laor

Shabbat shalom!

I will begin with three short stories:

When I lived in Mexico, I had a good friend who used to tell me about all his adventures, which occasionally included moral transgressions: with his clients, with his manager, even with his wife. When I asked him about the conscience or morality issues, he always answered, that in his church, prior to Mass on weekends, he...Read more...

Parshat Ha'Azinu

Rabbi David Laor

Shabbat shalom!

The poem that appears in chapter 32 of the book of Deuteronomy, of this week's Parasha Haazinu, is divided into several parts. The first verses are an opening, after which comes the grace of God, and the very ungrateful response of his people is described. Hence, there is a description of the punishments that the people will undergo and, finally, a prophecy of consolation, as God will...Read more...

Rosh HaShanah

Rabbi David Laor

Hag Sameaj and Shana Tova!

Tomorrow morning and the day after tomorrow on the second day of the New Year, we will hear the sounds of the shofar during the three divisions that are added to the Amida prayer in Musaf. The divisions are called: Malchuyot (kingdoms), Zichronot (remembrances) and Shofarot (shofars). These three parts are said one by one, and at the end of each one of them the shofar is...Read more...

Parshat Nitzavim

Rabbi David Laor

Shabbat shalom!

“10 ‘Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God— your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel”, thus begins the portion of this week, Parshat Nitzavim at Deuteronomy Ch. 29. Forty verses only, cover the reading of one of the smallest portions in the Torah. Forty verses that remind us of the forty days of “Slichot”,...Read more...

Parshat Ki Tavo

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom!

Approximately twenty five years ago, the concept of SPAM E-Mail was not yet conceived, and automatic filters for this kind of ugly E-Mail chains was not yet integrated into our modern E-Mail applications. In those days I used to receive lots of chain messages from my own contacts and friends, promising a large list of blessings from heavens, that I could receive only if, I would resend...Read more...

Parshat Ki Tzeitzei

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom!

The large portion of the Torah reading this week is called KI TETZE, and its four chapters in the book of Deuteronomy, handles a large number of issues, many related to morality, some more difficult to understand than others. Chapter 23 mentions foreign peoples who can convert to Judaism. From the outset, the Torah excludes the Ammonites and Moabites, that no longer exist in our days, and are eternal...Read more...

Parshat Shoftim

Rabbi David Laor

Shabbat shalom!

This week's Torah portion Shoftim begins in Deuteronomy ch. 16, as follows:

“18 Shoftim veshotrim (Judges and officers) shalt thou make thee in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes; and they shall judge the people with just judgment. 19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a bribe; for a...Read more...

Parshat Re'eh

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom!

Next Tuesday is Rosh Chodesh Elul the last month of the Jewish calendar, and our week´s Parashat Re’e concludes on Deuteronomy 16, with details concerning the calendar itself. While recent Parashot tell us how to keep the holidays, from Perashat Re´e we learn the reasons why to keep them. A rationale is given, as to the timing and rituals of our holidays. To ensure that the holidays...Read more...

Parshat Eikev

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom!

This week's portion is called Parashat Ekev. The children of Israel are now on the verge of entering the Land of Israel, following forty years of wandering in the desert. At that moment, Moshe repeated in their ears the same basic things on which they were about to base their life from that moment on. Rashi claims, that the laws mentioned in this reading of the Torah are mostly "light...Read more...

Parshat Va'et'hanan

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom!

This weekly portion Vaetchanan is a continuation of Moses' story, in the moment just before the entering of the people of Israel to the Promised Land. A new generation looks forward to conquering the desired land, leaving behind 40 years of travel around a desert world on the Sinai Peninsula. After so long, Moses addresses a generation that was born free in the desert, but was not present...Read more...

Parshat D'varim

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom!

This Shabbat, which takes place before the 9th of Av, is called “Shabbat Chazon”, in light of the first words of the Haftarah reading, that we read from the first chapter of the book of Isaiah ben Amotz. On the one hand, Isaiah rebukes at people who sins against God, and on the other hand, he offers us a comforting and very important ethical message, which teaches us the deep meaning...Read more...

Parshat Matot

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom!

          This week we read the two combined Torah readings that conclude the Book of Numbers (Sefer BaMidbar):  Parashat Matot and Parashat Masei.  Parashat Matot opens with the topic of vows:

"אִישׁ כִּי יִדֹּר נֶדֶר לַה', אוֹ-הִשָּׁבַע שְׁבֻעָה...Read more...

Parshat Pinchas

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom!

          If we were asked – who we considered as the most representative female figures – who have a symbolic role in the world of Judaism – I think that the vast majority of us would name, intuitively, the three matriarchs: Sara, Rivka, Rachel and Lea, surely leaving Bilha or Zilpa aside. Young girls receive a...Read more...

Parshat Balak

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom!

          The haftarah from this week's portion, Parshat Balak, from the book of the prophet Micah Ch. 6, speaks of the powerlessness that the prophet feels before the sins of the people. The text reads, as follows: “4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servitude; and I...Read more...

Parshat Chukat

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom!

          The weekly Torah portion of this week is Chukat which presents us with a great challenge of faith. At the beginning of chapter 19, we can read the laws regarding the red heifer. For those who do not know about the subject, I will explain briefly. The red heifer is a cow whose fur color is reddish brown. The ashes...Read more...

Parshat Korah-2024

Rabbi David Laor

Shabat Shalom!

          This week's Torah reading, Parashat Korach, begins with the words: "Vayikach Korach - And Korach took" Numbers 16:1. But it does not indicate at any point, what was the thing that he took! There are many commentators, who interpret these words in various ways. Onkelus translates into Aramaic: "Veitpleig Korach -...Read more...

Thu, January 23 2025 23 Tevet 5785