Messages on Leviticus

The priestly code; the rules pertaining to sacrifices, diet, and morality; and the Land of Israel and festivals are discussed.

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Bamidbar/Shavuos 5781-2021

You Count! When the cycle for the weekly Torah readings was established centuries ago, this week’s Parsha was designated specifically to precede the holiday of Shavuot, the festival commemorating the giving of the Torah. What is the connection between the two? It begins with G-d’s charge to Moses to conduct a census of the Jewish people. The […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Emor (Leviticus 21-24)

The Thoughtful Observer  A Jew who is Shomer Shabbos (Sabbath observant), adheres to the kosher laws, and keeps other mitzvot  in the Torah is referred to as an observant Jew. I’m not sure where exactly the term “observant” came from with reference to Jews, but a verse in this week’s Torah portion suggests an answer. You shall observe […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Tazria-Metzora (Leviticus 12-15)

CHIRP Why is so much of Diaspora Jewry ambivalent toward Israel? A peculiar phenomenon mentioned in this week’s Parsha sheds light. A unique spiritual illness having physical manifestations similar to leprosy existed in Biblical times; it resulted from speaking senseless gossip or derogatory speech. Part of the purification process was to bring two birds. Although […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Shmini (Leviticus 9-11) 

 Sometimes Silence is the Answer This past year I had the opportunity to be part of a group who visited Auschwitz. That evening, we stayed in a hotel across the street from one of the oldest and most renowned synagogues in Poland, the Rema’s shul in Cracow. Over 40 years earlier, in 1979, Professor Yaffa Eliach […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Tzav (Leviticus 6-8)  5783-2023

Roberto Clemente’s Lesson in Job Clarity Roberto Clemente, one of baseball’s most iconic figures, was playing outfield late into the 1968 season against the Houston Astros. The Pirates were no longer contenders, which meant that that game had no statistical meaning. A ball was hit deep into the outfield. As Clemente raced back, it seemed […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Vayikra (Leviticus 1-5)

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Vayikra (Leviticus 1-5) (Being as we are less than two weeks away from Passover, a short idea about one of Passover’s core messages will be presented at the end of this dvar Torah.) Set a Margin so Life doesn’t Just Barge In Margin/märjən/the edge or border of something. Although margins are important for […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Emor (Leviticus 21-24)Passing the Baton

A great deal of this week’s Parsha deals with matters pertaining to Kohanim, the decedents of Aaron. “Priests” is usually the English translation but there’s no appropriate terminology to describe this unique group of people whose task it is to perform the service in Jerusalem’s ancient Temple as well as being teachers for the Jewish people. […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Metzora(Leviticus 14-15) Creating Possibilities

Creating PossibilitiesThis week’s Parsha continues discussing the harmful effects of lashon hara, senseless negative speech. Many people don’t take speech seriously, speaking about others without regard for their feelings or the potential damage it can cause. King Solomon wrote, Life and death are in the hands of the tongue. One explanation is that negative talk has the ability to […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Nasso (Leviticus 4:21-7:89) Thirsty for Reality

In 2018 a study conducted at Ghent University (Belgium) demonstrated that people act differently when presented with a hypothetical moral decision than when faced with a real-life situation. Participants were presented with the “trolley dilemma,” which involves the following hypothetical scenario. A runaway trolley is about to hit five people on the tracks. They can take no […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Achrei Mot-Kedoshim (Leviticus 16-20)Our Natural Habitat

The authors of Pandemics and the Great Evolutionary Mismatch  discuss a scientific conundrum inherent in social distancing. Although social distancing is effective in slowing the spread of the disease, history and neuroscience have shown that in times of crisis, people do best when they have social interactions as a support system. When you remove that option, people have […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Tazria-Metzora (Leviticus 12-15)Creating Possibilities

This week’s Parsha continues discussing the harmful effects of lashon hara, senseless negative speech. Many people don’t take speech seriously, speaking about others without regard for their feelings or the potential damage it can cause. King Solomon wrote, Life and death are in the hands of the tongue. One explanation in the Talmud is that negative talk has the […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Vayikra (Leviticus 1-5)Set a Margin so Life doesn’t Just Barge In

Margin/märjən/the edge or border of something. Although margins are important for books, we don’t talk enough about the need to leave space for margins in life. In The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients, Irvin Yalom, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Stanford, says that he never schedules back-to-back appointments. […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Emor (Leviticus 21-24)Passing the Baton

A great deal of this week’s Parsha deals with matters pertaining toKohanim, the decedents of Aaron. “Priests” is usually the English translation but there’s no appropriate terminology to describe this unique group of people whose task it is to perform the service in Jerusalem’s ancient Temple as well as being teachers for the Jewish people. […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Acharei Mot-Kedoshim (Leviticus 16-20)The Revenge Paradox

Do not take revenge… (Leviticus 19:18)The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent upon those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come only when their tormentors suffer.  (Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption)Which one of us hasn’t had inner thoughts of vengeance at […]