Mar 31, 2026 | Eshel Out Loud
As an infant, Moshe was bundled up and sent down the Nile in a tiny raft. Yocheved gave him up, still in vital danger, but spared from certain death at home as a Hebrew boy. When he was found by Pharoah’s daughter, she recognized that he was a Hebrew baby - based on his circumcision, [more]
Nov 4, 2025 | Eshel Out Loud
“And He (Abraham) planted an eshel (tamarisk) in Beersheba, and he proclaimed there the name of the Lord, God of the universe” (Genesis 21:33). Every year, when we read Parshat Vayera, we are reminded of why we chose the eshel tree as our namesake. In the Torah, the eshel is an ancient welcome sign. In [more]
May 9, 2025 | Eshel Out Loud
For years I have grappled with the pasuk in this week’s parsha: וְאֶ֨ת־זָכָ֔ר לֹ֥א תִשְׁכַּ֖ב מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י אִשָּׁ֑ה תּוֹעֵבָ֖ה הִֽוא׃ Starting around 13 years old, I began to feel immense guilt and shame whenever this pasuk was read aloud in shul, usually by the Rabbi, who also happened to be my father. I thought that Hashem [more]
Dec 31, 2024 | Eshel Out Loud
It’s that time of year: organizations, particularly at the end of the calendar year, will talk about making a year end gift to their work, to make an impact. But what does it mean to make an impact? Where does one even start? At Eshel we talk about making an impact in Orthodoxy, strengthening Orthodoxy [more]
Jun 3, 2024 | Eshel Out Loud
As Shavuot approaches, we prepare to reenact the experience of receiving the Torah at Sinai, as it was experienced by all of am yisrael, across every generation. The revelation at Sinai is described in the Torah in both Shmot and Dvarim in rich, sensory language, but the specific details are different in each telling. The [more]
