Posts by Cyril

GAINESVILLE Look around you for a moment. Really look. To your left, to your right, in front of you and behind you — there are people who were, not long ago, strangers to one another. Some of you are brand new to Shir Shalom, still learning where we keep the siddurs and which place in…

It is the eighth day after the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, has been completed. The whole community is in a state of euphoria. Not long ago, they were slaves in Egypt. Now they are guardians of the Torah and have a physical representation of God in their midst with the Ark and the Tent of Meeting.…

In the past couple of weeks, we were immersed in one thing in our Torah calendar: the sacrifices, the korbanot which were brought every day to the Tabernacle or, later on, the Temple. The descriptions of the korbanote, you will recall, were the meat of worship – pun intended.  But this week, on Chol HaMoed…

I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up, every Monday night there was a oft-repeated instruction coming from somewhere in the house…’Cy, take out the garbage.’ That would be my cue to stop whatever I was doing, go to the garage and shlepp the garbage can to the street. It was hardly…

There is one time in the year when rabbis break out in sweats.  No, it’s not hte High Holidays, believe it or not.  It is the beginning of the Book of Leviticus. Every year we ask ourselves, ‘how are we to make sense out of a book of sacrifices that have very little impact or…

One of the consequences of being a student of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament is that I understand how the New Testament often distorts Jewish law. You already know the most popular misconception: that Judaism is a harsh, cold religion of laws, devoid of love and compassion. Get into a discussion with anyone…

Parahat Bo – Gainesville Do you remember the good old days when we actually had to sit through a movie to find out the ending? Nowadays, with time so precious, we may have a tendency to scroll to the end, see who survives, get an idea as to the end of the story and then…

Gainesville One phrase, that’s all it takes to completely change the trajectory of the life of the Jewish people. And what is that phrase?  “A new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” (Ex.1:8) And just like that, everything changes. The Israelites had been numerous ever since Joseph’s brothers and their households arrived…

Gainesville 2025 I want to share a little bit of my personal history with you today. When I was in High School, it was the height of the Cold War. Something inside me drove me to want to learn everything I could about what was then the Soviet Union. But, I didn’t know where or…

Vayigash Gainesville Stella and I have an ongoing argument. She is very much into reality TV dramas, mostly for background noise.  Still, at any given time, the Housewives of LA, My 1000 Pound Life, Dance Moms, some Kardashian thing or another, or a dozen more are permeating the house. So what is the argument? Simple;…