Our Messiah warned us, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Readers might think this implies that the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees is somehow defective or inferior, but Messiah Yeshua is probably saying the opposite.

Tired of creation descending into chaos, murder, and hatred? Does it seem like that flood didn’t quite clean out all the trash and you just can’t bring yourself to go through another one? Then try ISRAEL, a unique way of blessing the whole creation through one particular people group!

In this week’s parasha, God commands Noah to build an ark for his family and for all the land animals to avoid the coming destruction of the flood. Water in the Torah is often a symbol of the forces of chaos. The ark became Noah’s safe haven from the raging waters of chaos, storm, and sin. 

We’ve entered a new year and a new round of Torah readings—a good time to recalibrate our lives. But what measure can we use to recalibrate? I can’t think of a better measure than the account of creation in the opening chapters of the Torah.

When I was a boy growing up in New York our family gatherings were like a scene out of the Barry Levinson movie Avalon. On Thanksgiving and Chanukah our get-togethers would involve not only our immediate family, but also an extended family of grandparents, aunts and uncles, great aunts and uncles, multiple generations of cousins, and friends.

Ha’azinu is a powerful, emotional poem; one that challenges all Israel for all time to respond as the nation did in the days of Moses, as it is written, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient” (Exod 24:7). Indeed, this is the purpose of parashat Ha’azinu: to teach us to be ready to turn to God as a nation at all times in our present and future.

Not long before my old friend Rube (Rabbi Richard Rubinstein) passed away, I had the privilege of visiting him at his home in Sacramento. He was already in bad shape from the cancer that eventually killed him, but his spirits were fine, so when he recommended a book, I paid attention. The title grabbed my attention too: This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared.

As a rabbi I’ve noticed over the years some resistance when we talk about one of the great themes of our current season—teshuva or repentance. Our tradition provides lengthy prayers of remorse and confession . . . and we have to overcome inner resistance to really put our hearts into this whole practice.