Rabbi's Corner

In Praise of Great Men: Sermon Shemot

By Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon  

There is a passage early in our Torah portion of Shmot this week in which the Pharaoh of Egypt, the great villain of our portion, raises the “Jewish problem” for the first time in history.  The children of Israel are becoming too numerous and successful, too many and too mighty for we Egyptians, he tells his people, rav v’atzum mimenu.  We must find a way to stop them!    READ MORE    

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What Defines Us? Thoughts After Brain Surgery

It’s great to be back here in the Northwest for Shabbat with all of you.  Many of you know that I was gone for the last few months and many of you know that it was for a brain injury.  The short story is that back towards the end of October, I suffered from a hemorrhagic stroke.  An abnormal blood vessel formation in my brain was bleeding.   The bleeding occurred in a part of my brain called the left-temporal lobe.  READ MORE 

Weekly Torah Talk

Bo 5772
Bless Me, Too?

This week’s Torah portion of Bo features the real Exodus from Egypt.  The climactic text is very familiar from Seders and movies, but is no less dramatic for its familiarity.  Moses and Aaron warn Pharaoh that the final plague is coming.  God tells the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and put its blood on their doorposts to protect themselves from the coming calamity. At midnight the Angel of Death visits the homes of every Egyptian, from the Pharaoh on his throne to the prisoner in the dungeon, and the firstborn male son of every household dies.   READ MORE
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