I’ve been studying this parsha for months with one of our teenagers who became bat mitzvah last weekend, and I can tell you that the first thing she noticed was that this census does not count any women. Or anyone who is nonbinary, or under the age of 20, or ill, or for some other reason unable to fight. This census is about counting “able-bodied men,” and that is not synonymous with “our whole community.”
“…Ritual and structure can help us stay upright when our steps feel shaky… just as being deliberate and deliberative can help us stay ethically upright when the world feels shaky. This is the deep Torah of this parsha for me this year. When the world is too much, we can take refuge in silence, and in taking small, careful steps on tradition’s ethical path…”
“…I thought I’d try something new this year: giving us a way to remember loved ones with a short Yizkor remembrance at home. Although traditionally Yizkor is communal, this communal ritual clearly isn’t speaking to our community as we are now. But maybe a ‘DIY’ version to do at home might speak to some of us….”
This guest post is by cantorial soloist and CBI member Ziva Larson, who led Kabbalat Shabbat services on Friday, March 13, 2026.
Torah tells us 36 times that we must “love the stranger, for we were strangers in the land of Mitzrayim.” We have been in narrow straits before, and because of our people’s suffering both historical and present we must stand up for those who are oppressed today. Not “may,” not “might decide to” – if we take Torah values seriously, caring for the stranger is an obligation.
This guest post is by cantorial soloist and CBI member Ziva Larson, who led Kabbalat Shabbat services on Friday, January 23, 2026.
This week we’re beginning the book of Exodus – in Hebrew, called Shemot, “Names.” We open this book with the names of those who came down to Egypt with Yosef. And then we read that a new Pharaoh arises who did not know Yosef, and in his eyes the children of Israel are teeming multitudes, like vermin, the “enemy within.”
Happy secular new year! I love having two opportunities each year to turn the page and feel the hope that comes with new beginnings. 2026 is a book as-yet unwritten. With what will we fill its pages?
In this week’s Torah portion, Hayyei Sarah, Avraham sends his servant Eliezer to find a wife for Isaac. And Eliezer says, God, help me out: could You make it so that whichever woman offers to help me get water not only for myself but also for my camels, that woman is the one You’ve intended for my master’s son?
As I write these words we’ve entered the lunar month of Heshvan, during which there are no holidays other than Shabbat. After the densely-packed spiritual season of the high holidays, Heshvan can feel like an abrupt gearshift.
