Kol Ramah

Parashat Va-yeshev [Genesis 37:1-40:23] begins the longest extended narrative in the Book of Genesis, the Joseph story. The parashah begins with a 17-year-old Joseph relating to his family two dreams he has had, which infuriate his brothers. When his father asks Joseph to go see how his brothers are doing pasturing the sheep, Joseph ends up being sold into slavrey. Chapter 38 is an interlude of so...

Parashat Mi-Qetz [Genesis 41:1-44:17] is the second of the four parashiyot that treat the Joseph story. At the end of last week’s parashah, Joseph has been left in prison because the recently released butler failed to mention him to Pharaoh, as he had promised to do. The parashah this week opens up with Pharaoh’s two dreams which defied interpretation by any one in Pharaoh’s court, the butler reme...

Parashat Va-yishlach [Genesis 32:4–36:43] features the actions Jacob takes in preparation for his meeting with Esau after 20 years, the mysterious wrestling match with the מלאך [malakh, understood as a divine messenger or a human messenger], the actual meeting, the ravishing of Dinah [as Nahum Sarna entitles the episode], a theophany at Beth El, and the genealogy of Esau. It represents the conclud...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Toldot [Genesis 25:19-28:9] is the sixth of the 12 weekly Torah readings in the Book of Genesis. With the death of Abraham and Ishmael last week, the story this week concentrates on the family of Isaac and some of the key events in the life of Isaac: the birth of his twin sons, the wife-sister story in the 2nd ge...

Parsha Talk, with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Va-yetze [Genesis 28:10-32:3] was my Bar Mitzvah parashah many, many years ago! It opens with Jacob leaving Be’ersheva for Haran, fleeing for his life or looking for a wife. It ends with Jacob on his way back to the land of his birth. A lot happens between those two events, including his marriage to the sisters...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Chayyai Sarah [Genesis 23:1-25:18] begins with the death of Sarah and the acquisition of the Cave of Makhpelah from Efron the Hittite. This sale and consequent burial of Sarah establishes Abraham’s claim to the land, for he now is the legal owner of a plot of land. The largest section of the parashah is devoted t...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Va-yera [Genesis 18:1-22:24] is filled with interesting material: the announcement of the birth of Isaac, Abraham’s conversation with God about the fate of Sodom & Gomorrah, the second wife-sister story, the banishment of Ishmael and Hagar, and the Binding of Isaac [these latter two which we read on Rosh Hashanah...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat No’ach [Genesis 6:9-11:32], the second parashah in the Book of Genesis, primarily deals with the flood, the great cataclysm in which God destroys the world he had so carefully created in the opening chapters of The Torah. Noah, in whom God has found favor, is instructed to build an ark and to enter it with his wi...

Parsha Talk Lekh Lekha with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. For D'var Torah by Rabbi Barry Chesler visit https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014806476351

Parsha Talk Bereishit - with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. After the holidays of Sh’mini Atzeret and Simhat Torah [Thursday and Friday, October 24 and 25], we begin the annual Torah reading cycle with parashat Bereshit [Genesis 1:1-6:8]. What kind of world has God created for us and what is our particular role in it as human beings. We spent a fair amount of time tryi...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Tomorrow night [Wednesday, October 16, 2024] begins the holiday of Sukkot, known in Jewish tradition as z’man simchateinu, the time of our rejoicing. The concluding days, Thursday and Friday, October 24-25, are Sh’mini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. Every year, these latter days mark the end of the long holiday season, which...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. On this Yom Kippur edition of Parashah Talk we spend our time talking about Yom Kippur, Kol Nidrei, and forgiveness, among other things. Our hearts weigh heavily as we continue to think about and pray for the hostages in what is now their second year of captivity. May they be speedily returned to their families. May the s...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. We are winding our way to the conclusion of our annual Torah Reading. This week’s parashah, Nitzavim-Va’yelekh [Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30] is the penultimate Shabbat reading. The following Shabbat, October 5, is Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; that weekly reading, Ha’azinu, concludes the Sha...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Ki Tavo [Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8] features, among other things, the ritual of the first fruits and the description of a one-time event to take place in the Land of Israel where the Israelites will assemble 6 tribes each on 2 mountains [Ebal and Gerizim for those of you keeping score] for a ritual recitation of bles...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky . In the words of my friend and colleague Rabbi Eliot Malomet, Parashat Ki Tetze [Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19] is mitzvah dense, containing 74 out the 613 commandments the rabbis found in the Torah, well over 10%. In our conversations we tried to extract meaning from this welter of laws by thinking about the story or stories t...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Shoftim [Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9] ordinarily provides a lot of material for conversation and discussion. On his JPS Torah Commentary, Jeffrey Tigay divides the parashah into two: Civil and Religious Authorities [16:18-18:22] and Judicial and Miltary Matters [19:1-21:9]. Given the events of the past week, we turned...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Re’eh [Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17] is the fourth parashah in Deuteronomy. After a few introductory verses, the parashah begins the lengthy section Jeffrey Tigay entitles “The Laws Given in Moab”, which continues through the next few weeks to parashat Ki Tavo, read on September 21. Deuteronomy is perhaps best known f...

Welcome to Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Eqev [Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25] is the third parashah in the Book of Deuteromony. Among its verses are the 7 species [8:8] which distinguish the Land of Israel, the verse [8:9] which is incorporated into the Grace after Meals and provides the halakhic [Jewish legal] basis for its recitation, and the 2nd...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Va-etchanan [Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11] contains, among other passages, the second version of the 10 Commandments, as remembered by Moshe 40 years after they were given at Sinai [Exodus 20], and the first paragraph of the Shema, the great credal statement of Judaism, together with a pssage from next week [Deuteronomy...

Palmer Day 2024 kicks off.

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Devarim [Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22] opens the Book of Deuteronomy. It is a longstanding tradition to read this parashah on the Shabbat preceding Tisha B'Av, the Fast of the Ninth of Av, the day on which Jews commemorate the tragic events which have befallen us as a people. Most notably, the 9th of Av is the traditiona...

The two teams of Yom Sport present songs, cheers, and their banners. Congratulations to the blue team!!! Recorded by Amy Erlanger

A snippet of the B Side Competition that was part of Yom Sport 2024.

The kids of Nitzanim create cheers for their respective teams.

The kids of Cochavim compete during Yom Sport! It's Blue vs Green. Who's going to come out with the victory?