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Yitro:Talking to Power

The Torah reading last Shabbat was Yitro, the parsha which describes the pivotal event that defined the Jews as a People; the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. This parsha also describes Moshe (Moses) and his father-in-law, Yitro (Jethro); Yitro gives the Torah portion its name. What was so essential about this meeting between Moshe and his father-in-law that the parsha was named after him and not the most important event, the revelation of the Torah? Yitro was a convert to Judaism, and this was no small feat for him, because he had been a priest of other religions … Continue reading →

Circumcision: Joining the Covenant

Abraham, the first Jew, was the first human being to practice circumcision. Since then, circumcision has been a ritual that brings Jewish babies into the covenant with G-d. In fact, the Hebrew name for circumcision, or brit, is the same word for covenant. In Soviet Russia, where all Jewish rituals were outlawed, and in concentration camps during the Holocaust, there were many who risked their lives to bring their sons into the covenant, and in spite of many who disapprove of the custom, the number of Jews seeking kosher circumcision for themselves and for their infant sons in increasing. Circumcision … Continue reading →

What is a Baal Teshuvah?

Are you frum (observant) from birth?” is a question I am asked occasionally. While I feel that there are telltale signs that I was not born in a religious home (i.e. my pronunciation of some Yiddish words), those of us who decided to become Torah-observant at some point of our lives are accepted in “frum” communities like never before. Of course, there are some strongholds where the vast majority of people can trace their tradition of observance back for generations, but he Baal Teshuvah is becoming more and more commonplace. Almost every Jew has a cousin or a sibling who … Continue reading →