As we reach the end of the book of Numbers (B’midbar), this week’s double portion, Matot-Mas’ei, reminds us to find our voice and to not fear change. In the portion Matot, Moses gives the Israelites G-d’s instructions regarding vows and oaths.

She called me “headstrong” and meant it as a compliment.  I wasn’t so sure I liked that description, so I decided to check the dictionary – my leather-bound, 1966 high-school-gifted Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. It said headstrong could be...

Parashat Balak offers a common theme - the evil ruler Balak, the King of Moab, is afraid of being overpowered by another more powerful group of people, the Israelites. Balak hires the prophet Balaam to place a curse on the Israelites to destroy them.

Her grandkids’ friends refer to her as the “tech grandma.” At 101 years of age, not only is she healthy, engaged, and fit, but she is also an accomplished Facebook, email, iPad, and Mac user.

In this week’s parashah, Korach, we find a community of 250 leaders joining Korach to question and confront Moses and Aaron on their leadership and place of authority in the community.  Up until now, God has guided Moses to lead the people of Israel and given.

I grew up in a fairly traditional Jewish family, and I became a Bat Mitzvah at the age of 13. When my synagogue initially told me that I would not be allowed to read from the Torah, I had my first moment of recognition of what I considered injustice.

It’s a season of change for many in our sisterhoods ―transition from school to summer, from existing leadership to new leadership, and from a calendar full of activities to a time when we can slow down and reflect a bit. This transition time offers an...

Most of this week’s Torah portion, Naso, deals with issues totally foreign to the Jewish people today. It begins with a census of the Levites; the tribe entrusted with the rituals of the tabernacle, our first holy space. Chapter five deals with impurity...

“On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, Adonai spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, saying, “Take a census of the whole Israelite company [of fighters] by the clans of