Weekly Torah Commentaries

By UMJC - Union Of Messianic Jewish CongregationsReligion & Spirituality Christianity Judaism

Weekly Torah Commentaries episodes

May 22, 2024 Sooner or Later, Jubilee is Coming
Have you ever wished that you could start over? That you could be, as in
the words of Dylan’s immortal song, “forever young”—going back to your
earliest years of life, able to erase all your mistakes, cancel all your
debts, and undo all your sins?
9 min
May 14, 2024 Our Priority: Conservation or Contagion?
It’s not so much a matter of contrast between conservation and contagion;
we need both. The stability and separation of a healthy religious community
provides a platform for influencing the surrounding culture.
9 min
May 08, 2024 Sweat the Small Stuff
Once we choose to live in the universe of power in actions, do we have the
discipline to constantly push ourselves to raise the bar? Will we have what
it takes to engage in regular self-reflection and contemplation, and live
with the consistency that holiness requires?
9 min
May 02, 2024 Walk It Out!
Spiritual discipline through the repetitive action—the “walking” out—of the
mitzvot builds within us emotional muscle memory. Given that we are largely
driven by our emotions, any repetitive action binds itself to our
personhood, our heart, our mind, and that same action builds within us an
emotional response.
9 min
April 25, 2024 Why Is This Passover Different?
Telling our children and grandchildren a story rooted in ancient history,
and equipping them to pass it on, amidst our culture of endless sound bites
and news flashes can be challenging indeed. That’s why Passover in this
current generation may be different from all other Passovers.
11 min
April 17, 2024 Stop the Spread of Evil Speech
Along with other rabbis, Rabbi Sha’ul correlated reckless speech with an
infectious skin disease that starts off as a small infection, grows if left
unchecked, and eventually consumes and kills the body as it expands.
11 min
April 10, 2024 Doctors of the Soul
The kohanim, or priests, were in a sense the “doctors of the soul.” This is
the role of a kohen, to restore the person to wholeness—to have the
imagination to see beyond a person’s present brokenness, and to recognize
his or her own power to heal.
9 min
April 04, 2024 Being the Chosen People is Dangerous
If this is true for Israel as a whole, God’s priestly nation among the
nations of the world, how much more for the family of Aaron, chosen to be
the priestly family of the priestly people? The great tragedy in this
week’s portion makes the danger of election all too evident.
12 min
March 28, 2024 Honest Worship
Tzav is our reminder to continue to practice sacrificial worship in our
lives today. How do we do this? Let’s take a moment to reflect on two
questions. First, what is considered a sacrifice today? And second, where
is the altar?
9 min
March 21, 2024 The Lord Calls Us by Name
Each of us was given a name shortly after birth and, for most of us, we are
still called by that name. When I hear my name, it commands my attention.
It identifies me. It also means that the person who has called me knows my
name.
9 min

About Weekly Torah Commentaries

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Reflections on the weekly Torah portions from a diverse group of Messianic Jewish rabbis, scholars, and lay people. Our contributors bring fresh insights to familiar texts, drawing connections to…