Weekly Torah Commentaries

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

Weekly Torah Commentaries episodes

November 24, 2020 Dear Leah (A Letter from Your Sister, Rachel)
Dear Leah,
It humbles me now to think of how I acted when we were young. I was
desperate and childless, and children are the blessing of God and the hope
of our inheritance. I pleaded with Jacob, our husband, for a child.
0 min
November 18, 2020 When Is It Right to Be Wrong?
This week’s Torah portion presents a most difficult dilemma: Are there
situations in life where it is acceptable to be dishonest and deceptive?
Oy vey iz mir . . . Let’s dive into this parasha a bit and see what we can
come up with.
0 min
November 11, 2020 The Ongoing Miracle of a Life Well Lived
This week’s portion, entitled Chayei Sarah, which literally means the life
of Sarah, chronicles the matriarch’s death and burial, and her husband’s
contemplative mourning. It begins, though, with a one-sentence
retrospective of her life. “Sarah’s lifetime was one hundred years, twenty
years, and seven years: the years of Sarah’s life.”
0 min
November 05, 2020 Who Can Weigh a Heart?
Our world is perhaps more divided today than it’s ever been. But when we
encounter people we presume to be far from God, we might do well to
remember the lessons of Abraham and Abimelech, and the wisdom of Paul among
the Athenians. “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord
weighs the heart.”
0 min
October 28, 2020 Does Your Faith Have Feet?
Jews, Christians, and Muslims as well call ourselves “children of Avraham.”
And in the Christian and Messianic Jewish tradition, when we call ourselves
children of Avraham, we usually focus on having the same kind of faith as
Avraham. But do we have that kind of faith?
0 min
October 21, 2020 The Right Focus for Intolerable Times
As I read this week’s parasha, I am reminded that our great problems in the
world today are not new. They are the same ones as in ancient times,
recycled into our current generation. Our parasha opens with a view of
human life from over 4,000 years ago: “The earth was corrupt in its
relation to God and was full of wanton violence.”
0 min
October 14, 2020 Staying Human through the 2020 Election
Every person is made in the image of God, and therefore to be treated with
respect and dignity. This claim might sound obvious, or even a bit
sentimental, but we need to hear it afresh amidst current views like these:
“The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-size planet . . .
just a ripple within the cosmic data flow.”
0 min
October 08, 2020 BEGIN AGAIN RIGHT NOW
As if to reinforce Rosh Hashanah as the beginning of our new year, Simchat
Torah concludes our reading of the Torah (Deut 33–34) by immediately
launching us into reading the Torah from the beginning (B’reisheet) again.
So, we begin again immediately, not at some indistinct time in the future,
but right now.
0 min
September 22, 2020 I Can’t Forgive Myself
When I teach or counsel about forgiveness, this is a question I hear more
than any other: How do I forgive myself? I’ve searched the Scriptures for
verses on forgiving yourself and can’t find any. You can repent (with God’s
help) and you can receive God’s forgiveness, but you can’t forgive
yourself.
And realizing this fact can be liberating, an essential step in the right
direction.
0 min
September 15, 2020 A Tale of Two (Non-Binary) Sons
Now that my title got your attention, I’ll let you know this message isn’t
about non-binary gender identity. Instead, it’s about looking beyond the
usual binary reading of Isaac and Ishmael to bring out a dimension of the
story that’s of special importance to us, particularly as we approach the
Days of Awe.
0 min

About Weekly Torah Commentaries

From the publisher's feed

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…