Parshah Columnists - Tazria

Guest Columnists
From Pale to Passion When is a person full of energy and life? It is when they follow G‑d’s word and plug into the G‑dly energy. By Aharon Loschak 3 Comments		When the Truth Hurts Tazria How can we be punished for negative speech when what we say is actually true? And why is the punishment one of expulsion and isolation? By Hanna Perlberger 5 Comments
The Power of the Seed Think about it. This little tiny seed is basically a treasure-chest of DNA, prepared to (in the right circumstances) give birth to any of a variety of beings . . . By Tuvia Teldon 7 Comments		Bar Mitzvah Speech for Tazria By Moshe Bogomilsky
Wedding Speeches for Tazria By Moshe Bogomilsky		The Subtle Signals of the Tzaraat An Essay on Parshat Tazria Tzaraat should be regarded not as an illness that is designated as tamei, but as “a sign and a wonder” that G‑d uses to mark someone. By Adin Even-Israel (Steinsaltz) 4 Comments
Torah Insights
Why Animals Come Before People By Menachem Feldman 15 Comments		Treasured Words Our brains prefer the ease and simplicity of clear distinctions. Life, however, is more complicated than that. By Menachem Feldman 2 Comments
Weekly Sermonette
The Eternal Covenant By Yossy Goldman 1 Comment		Speak Nicely, but Clearly "I went to a psychiatrist and he helped me solve my problem," said the compulsive shoplifter. "I don't feel guilty anymore" By Yossy Goldman 7 Comments
When Was Your Last Spiritual? What’s a “spiritual”? It has all the trappings of the routine checkup we call a “physical”—height, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, and stress tests on the treadmill and up and down the little staircase . . . By Yossy Goldman 10 Comments
Weekly Torah
Words Are Real By Mordechai Wollenberg		Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall "A person can sees every kind of blemish," rules the Talmud, "except for their own" By Mordechai Wollenberg 2 Comments
Inner Stream
Vulnerability: the Hallmark of Growth Growth is only possible if we subject ourselves to vulnerability. If we refuse to leave our comfort zone, we will never have new experiences or discover new abilities. By Lazer Gurkow 3 Comments		The Last Creation The Torah teaches that the human being the most superior of all creations. It also states that man is inferior to all other creatures. Both statements are correct... By Lazer Gurkow 1 Comment
A Meeting of Two Souls Her thoughtfulness changed all that; it turned our causal encounter into a meaningful exchange. I realized that she was a real person and not just a passing prop on the stage of my life... By Lazer Gurkow 2 Comments		The Mark of Truth A Compendium on Circumcision G-d wants us to remove the foreskin ourselves. To demonstrate that as we complete the physical appearance of our bodies, so can we perfect the contours of our souls.… By Lazer Gurkow 6 Comments
Three Gifts of Circumcision Brit Milah carries the promise of three rewards: the divine presence, the land of Israel, and the royal House of David. What is the connection between these three gifts and the covenant of circumcision? By Lazer Gurkow 15 Comments
Reflections on the Parshah
Healthy Selfishness The Mishnah teaches that “all afflictions one sees, except his own . . .” By Zalman Posner 4 Comments
For Friday Night
Spiritual Birth By Tali Loewenthal		Birth and Rebirth The experience of galut (exile) is compared to a state of pregnancy. By Tali Loewenthal
Your Own Choice Your Judaism, the fact of your being a Jew in the world today and having all those laws and traditions in your background--is this something you chose? By Tali Loewenthal 5 Comments		Nature and Miracle A miracle can be defined as something which directly reveals the power of the Divine. In this sense, reproduction has the quality of a miracle, in particular the birth of a child who is destined to reveal G‑dliness in the world. By Tali Loewenthal 1 Comment
What the Rebbe Taught Me
What Do You Really Want? The Essence of Circumcision, the Essence of a Jew The extraordinary message expressed by circumcision is what caused it to rise to the top of the list of rituals our enemies sought to eradicate time and again throughout our history. But what is this message? By Mendel Kalmenson 12 Comments		The Rules of Judgment and Constructive Criticism Are there any rules to constructive criticism? By Mendel Kalmenson 1 Comment
The Rules of Judgement A valuable lesson on how to judge your fellow. By Mendel Kalmenson
Parshah Musings
Do Circumcision Right, During the Day By Elisha Greenbaum		The Loving Admonisher While the cohen wasn't paid for his services and thus couldn't be accused of padding his nest at the community's expense, the question still remains: why did they need a cohen? By Elisha Greenbaum 1 Comment
Circumcisions and Seders Assimilated Jews, intermarried Jews, you-name-it type of Jews, all circumcise their sons, and almost all sit down to a Passover seder. Why, what do these two commandments have that the others don’t? By Elisha Greenbaum 1 Comment		Why Did G-d Bother? The boys tend to be interested in the gory details, while the girls wonder about the rationale behind the mitzvah By Elisha Greenbaum 3 Comments
Living through the Parshah
Fighting Ire With Fire The spiritual ammunition of the Shabbat candles Gossip is charged with intrigue, and feels innocuous at the time. It’s usually afterward that the guilt settles in. By Rochel Holzkenner 4 Comments		Bad News Is Good News Why can’t people become better, more wholesome, more peaceful and G‑d-conscious as we progress towards Moshiach? The answer follows the lines of the unusual law of the pure leper. By Rochel Holzkenner 22 Comments
A Thought for the Week
Birth and Bar Mitzvah By Yitschak Meir Kagan
Comment
The Wonder That Is Woman Everyone can become a “mother.” What comes naturally to the female half of creation can be learned and assimilated by all, and not only in giving birth to children, but in every one of life’s endeavors. By Yanki Tauber 11 Comments
Parshah Recovery
Rigorous Self-Honesty In terms of our spiritual development, we can apply this law to all types of spiritual sicknesses. We are not the ones to make the final diagnosis of our own faults and shortcomings... By Rabbi Ben A. 1 Comment
More Parshah Articles
Our Children, Our Selves In twenty-four articles and stories, mothers and fathers tell of the love and the pain, the joy and the fears, the wisdom and the faith, the mystery and the mysticism of having children Compiled by Yanki Tauber 2 Comments		The Mikvah Everything you wanted to know about Mikvah but didn't know to ask. By Rivkah Slonim 108 Comments
Covenant & Conversation
The Price of Free Speech Allowing people to speak badly about one another will eventually destroy the integrity of the group. By Rabbi Jonathan Sacks 9 Comments		The Circumcision of Desire The inner history of humanity is in part the history of the idea of love. And at some stage a new idea makes its appearance in biblical Israel. By Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
The Eighth Day Why circumcision? Why was this from the outset not just a mitzvah, one command among others, but the very sign of our covenant with G‑d and His with us? And why on the eighth day? By Rabbi Jonathan Sacks 8 Comments
Beyond Speech
The Metzora and Moshiach By Yitzi Hurwitz 3 Comments		If It All Turned White, It Is Pure Most of the parshah of Tazria tells us the laws of diagnosing and quarantining a metzora (leper). By Yitzi Hurwitz
On the Haftarah: Appreciating the Miracles In Our Lives For the Haftarah of Tazria, From the Teachings of the Rebbe Be cognizant of the miracles in nature and the “small miracles” we experience every single day. By Yitzi Hurwitz
Life's Passages
Have You Ever Been ‘Bageled’? Tazria Jews have a powerful urge to connect with one another. By Chana Weisberg 16 Comments
What Do You Think?
The Case for Large Families Each child has opened my heart wider, not only to that child but to the others as well. Each child makes me a better parent to all of our children. By Levi Avtzon 32 Comments