Sarah Thumim (’23) Thank you to Rabbi Saul Wieder for assisting me with this  d'var Torah . The book of  Devarim  presents us with the last speeches of Moshe, preparing the nation to enter and conquer the land of Israel. If we were to imagine a similar situation in our generation, the leader would most likely rely on words of encouragement and positive affirmations to strengthen his followers. Because of our current attitude, Moshe's focus on warnings and rebukes seems perplexing. How was he expecting to encourage the nation when his speeches were so seemingly filled with negativity? While this might be an understandable thought without the full context of  Sefer Devarim, Chazal  make clear to us that the generation that heard these speeches was the most righteous generation in the history of  Am Yisrael . In other words, Moshe's strategy was effective. In order to understand this strategy, all we need to do is change our perspective. From the right angle,...

Rabbi Shimmy Trencher Executive Director of Community Engagement In the year 2054 in Washington, D.C., capital crime has been virtually eliminated. A specialized police unit uses methods that allow them to predict homicides before they occur. This unit, when notified that a crime will happen in the future, springs into action to arrest the future perpetrator and place them in an electrically-induced coma. This is the premise of the 2002 movie  Minority Report , which explores the themes of free will vs. determinism and the ethical implications of preemptive justice. In this week’s  parsha , we experience similar thematic questions in regard to the  ben sorer u’moreh , the wayward and rebellious son. According to the  Torah , this young man doesn’t listen to his parents and is a זוֹלֵל וְסֹבֵא, “a glutton and a drunkard.” They bring him to the elders, and he is put to death. Our sages grapple with the death penalty imposed for behavior that is certainly defiant and de...

Rabbi Yaakov Green (’98) Head of School “Lean on me when you’re not strong and I’ll be your friend I’ll help you carry on... for it won’t be long ’til I’m gonna need somebody to lean on.” – Bill Withers I want to share with all of you what I shared with our Middle and Upper School students on our first day of school. Many of my colleagues and friends in schools around the country had difficulty knowing how to strike the right note this week. We commiserated over how to lead a community through the joys and excitement of a new school year, while holding space for the sorrow and worry our nation feels after a weekend of funerals and through the anger of our people still at war. How do we create enough space for our own personal feelings? Balloons and new backpacks do not match the crying and  kriah  of the 48 hours that preceded the first day of school. What could we possibly say? The best way to create space for all these feelings, both in school and at home for ourselves and o...