Rabbi Gelman's Blog

Let’s talk about dress up. So many of us love wearing costumes of Purim, but Purim is not the only time when wearing special clothing is part of Judaism.  The Torah requires that the Kohanim who serve in the Mishkan (and the Beit Hamikdash) must wear special garments.  Perhaps it is not a coincidence that Purim and this week’s Parsha (Tetzaveh), one of the portions that deal with these special vestments, occurs in the...Read more...

Welcome to the first interactive Dvar Torah!

[Q. What is interactive text study?  A. Read the Dvar Torah and click the link at the end to answer questions and share your thoughts on the text]

Join your friends and community members in a shared text study. 

Below there are instructions on how you can participate...or you can just read and think about these things on your own...BUT, I would LOVE to...Read more...

It is perhaps one of the strangest pesukim in the Torah.

וַיֻּגַּד֙ לְמֶ֣לֶךְ מִצְרַ֔יִם כִּ֥י בָרַ֖ח הָעָ֑ם וַ֠יֵּהָפֵ֠ךְ לְבַ֨ב פַּרְעֹ֤ה וַעֲבָדָיו֙ אֶל־הָעָ֔ם וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙ מַה־זֹּ֣את עָשִׂ֔ינוּ כִּֽי־שִׁלַּ֥חְנוּ...Read more...

I love this story told by Rabbi Yakov Nagen.

Our story inspires other stories. 

We are commanded to remember the exodus...Read more...

I am not ready to say goodbye to Chanukah yet. 

Parshat Mikeitz is often read on Shabbat  Chanukah, so let’s begin (before we say goodbye to Chanukah) with a Halacha regarding when Shabbat and Chanukah coincide.

If one is confronted with the [simultaneous mitzvah] to light one’s household lamp [for Shabbat] and to light the Hanukkah lamp… then the [Shabbat] household lamp takes precedence because it contributes...Read more...

Rabbi Samson Raphels Hirsh has a problem with the prohibition against eating the Gid Hanashe, It is not a culinary objection, Rav Hirsh does not feel that the absence of the Gid Hanshe will have an adverse effect on his menu. His concern is far more fundamental than that.   

The Torah uses grand language when declaring the prohibition of eating the Gid Hanashe. (Gen. 33:32)

Read more...

Syreeta Scott, owner of the salon Duafe, still wants to be at the top of the natural hair-care game. But now her post-COVID-19 dream includes investing and developing real estate. She bought the North Philly building where her salon is housed and is committed to providing fair housing for her tenants. “My dreams for myself now include activism,” said the 45-year-old entrepreneur.

I was really moved by this account. The...Read more...

This week’s sermon is sponsored by Naomi and Mike Levy and Family In memory of Larry Jaeger, Naomi Father,whose yahrzeit is this weekend.

We are in the midst of a trying time in this country. The election has shown that we are a divided country. The election has indicated that it is hard to change people’s minds. 

All this talk of change on a national level has has brought me to think about...Read more...

I dedicate this Dvar Torah in the merit of a Refuah Shleimah for Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

I got the most amazing email a few weeks ago from a president of a Congregation in a different city.

Hello Rabbi,

XXXXXXX is kind enough to forward your mailings to me.  You were so kind to give me permission to quote you…

I want you to know the mitzvahs you’re building up because of this.  We’re a very...Read more...

In the days of the Talmud, potters and perhaps other shop keepers would live in a Sukkah, within a sukkah. They would live , eat their meals and conduct their personal life in the smaller sukkah, while the outer, larger sukkah was reserved for business  - selling their wares, etc.

This interesting setup caught the attention of the Rabbis of the Talmud and they wondered if these various sukkot could be used to...Read more...

Back in April, families who lost loved ones fighting in the IDF expressed how hard it was to not be able to go to the  military cemetery. 

Sivan Rahav-Meir noted that these families lamented not being able to invite friends and relatives over.  

This is not the only example of folks feeling alone and isolated in the recent months, but it is surely one of the most...Read more...

I want to let you in on a personal struggle of mine. Sometimes I feel that I do not know where to turn. COVID-19 has created a new paradigm for our and every other community with so many new needs, concerns and objectives, that sometimes I feel that it is too much. 

I wonder if any of you are feeling this way or have felt this way over the course of the last six months.

What are we supposed to do about...Read more...

It is more than a bit strange that while we are all experiencing various levels of isolation that  one of the two Mitzvot found in the second of this week’s Parshiyot, Parshat Vayeilech, is the Mitzvah of Hakel - the obligation of all of Bnei Yisrael to gather in Jerusalem once every seven years. 

Here is how the Sefer Hachinuch describe the Mitzvah:

להקהיל כל ישראל בחג...Read more...

I have been thinking about gratitude lately. Mostly because our family is celebrating a simcha this weekend - Ami’s Bar Mitzvah -  and I am incredibly grateful for the many many blessings in my life.  But, I have also been thinking about gratitude because I do not think there is enough of it. 

This is why I have recently added a Hakarat HaTov - Gratitude -  section to my weekly erev Shabbat...Read more...

I read a heartbreaking story about the the increased number of orphans left behind due to parents dying from Coronavirus. It is not an angle that I had considered.  It reminded me, yet again, about the ongoing cost of the pandemic and how new areas of concern and responsibility present themselves. 

This week’s parsha presents is with an approach the ever present needs that we encounter.

Read more...