Eshel Out Loud
News, Views, and Updates from the Eshel Community
Seeing Ourselves in Torah
This Shabbat will be Parshat Acharei Mot, which we know can be a painful moment for many in our community because of the prohibitions against same sex relations. I remember as a high school student sitting in shul as the parsha was read and wondering what it meant for me - what did God think [more]
The Blessings of Totality
At 3:27 on Monday, April 8th in Crystal Lake, Vermont the moon totally covered the sun for three minutes. The recent total eclipse was among the most stunning natural experiences of my life. I've seen Niagara up close and I rafted for a week on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Both were wildly [more]
The Meaning of Retreat
Dvar Torah on Parshat Tzav Given by Nathan Lindenbaum at the 2024 Eshel Retreat Rabbi Aaron Lichtenstein pointed out two psukim, one in Parshat Tzav and one in Parshat Shmini, that sound similar but are actually quite different. The first pasuk, in parshat Tzav, describes how the Kohanim were supposed to behave the week the [more]
A Mifgash that Matters
The night before I left for Israel, I talked to a friend about what he should do: his father, who lives on the other side of the continent, had just gotten a cancer diagnosis. I remembered back to when my parents had been sick and I had been far away. “Go be with him. He [more]