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By Carol Ochs In every generation, Jews have understood the significance of the Torah in their lives. We have studied, written, and taught about the meaning of Torah and its relevance to contemporary circumstances. With the publication of The Torah: A Women’s Commentary in 2007, the teachings of women scholars and Jewish professionals on the significance of Torah in their lives is now available in a scholarly compendium. The “Contemporary Reflections” section in The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, “enable us to hear women’s voices that reckon with divine revelation… each essay shows the significance of Torah as a record of God’s revelation to Israel: it is a repository of Jewish memory, however incomplete, from which we, as individuals and as members of contemporary Jewish communities, can attempt to hear and understand the voice of God.” (Ellen Umansky, “Women and Contemporary Reflection,” The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, page ix) Today’s Ten Minutes of Torah is excerpted from The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, pages 1084-1085.

by Ellen Bick What is the strength of our words? We all know how powerful words can be and the impact they can have. The Book of Deuteronomy retells Israel’s history and laws for a new generation born in the desert. Here in Parashat D’varim (Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22), or ‘Words’, we find Moses looking across the Jordan River to the Promised Land. After 40 years of wandering, Moses gathers the people and speaks to them. God will not allow Moses to cross with his people. Saddened though he was at not being able to reach the Promised Land, Moses feels a strong responsibility to his people and uses this parting time to retell the stories of their wandering and to emphasize the laws of God. He feels the urgency to once again impart the word of God and make sure his people understand and honor it. He knows that these laws will be the foundation for the Jewish people as they move forward.

by Louise Johanson As reported recently in The Washington Post, three women have recently graduated from a program in New York, Yeshivat Maharat, to become maharat, or female spiritual leaders, “a new clerical position meant to give women the same education and training as rabbis, but with a carefully chosen title that preserves gender distinctions essential to the Orthodox.” These women have all been hired by Modern Orthodox synagogues, one at Ohev Sholom in the Washington, D.C. area, where she will give sermons and lectures on the Torah, shape programming, and serve as a pastoral counselor, but will not act as a Rabbi or be counted in a minyan. She grew up as the daughter of an Orthodox rabbi and never saw women in these roles, as she only went to Jewish schools until college and was in her early 20s in 2009 when she began to pursue this new career.

By Rabbi Marci Bellows Adapted From an article published in New York Jewish Week. I looked down at the podium in front of me. I had led services from this surface myriad times, but it had never before looked like this. Instead of three siddurim (mine, the Bat Mitzvah celebrant's, and the cantor's), there were two siddurim and a large document. On the document were little dots that were illegible to me, but to the girl to my right, these raised circles contained the holiest words known to Jews. Though I couldn't understand, her fingers moved over the Braille words and she was able to read, "Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad." It was my first Bat Mitzvah led entirely by the student in Braille.

By Rabbi David Saperstein In the opening verses of Jeremiah, Chapter 1, (the haftarah reading traditionally used when this week’s Parshat Mattot is read on its own), we read: “…Before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet concerning the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). The rabbis asked why do we speak about just the nations if Jeremiah, like almost all the prophets, spoke primarily to the children of Israel? The JPS Bible Commentary: Haftarot (Page 258,Commentary on Jeremiah 1:5) cites David Kimhi (also known as the “RaDak,” a 12^th century biblical commentator from Provence) and Rashi, who suggest that this is to remind us that we have a core religious and moral obligation to bring a prophetic witness to both the Jewish people and to the broader world. Or in modern terminology, we are a people with both a particularist and universalist message of righteousness and justice. From its inception, Reform Judaism sought to capture this merged universal and particular mission. And no arm of our Movement has more vividly exemplified that two-pronged role of what it means to be a light to and of the nations than Women of Reform Judaism.

Parashat Pinchas doesn’t deliver what you might expect. Amidst yet another census taking exercise, we have the story of the daring, mindful, literate, assertive and non-compromising five daughters of Zelophehad. I would like to relate the bold actions of Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah to our contemporary selves, to us, as women of Reform Judaism.

It’s that time of year again: Hurricane season. From my years living in Florida I know well that June-November is the official season. Living now in New York, one cannot escape the constant reminder of last year’s ‘Super Storm Sandy.' The news is filled with updates, as one-by-one the Jersey Shore boardwalks reopen for the ‘season’ and shops at South Street Seaport struggle to rebuild. Recovery after the second costliest storm in U.S. history (Hurricane Katrina was the most costly) will take many years. It will be a long time until every community affected by the storm will be back on its feet. For the individuals affected, it may take even longer. So many families have been displaced and so much housing stock has been destroyed that it is hard to comprehend the magnitude of the impact. Our friends in the Gulf Coast certainly understand, as do the families in Oklahoma after the recent devastating tornadoes.

By Silvina Chemen In every generation, Jews have understood the significance of the Revelation of Torah in their lives. We have studied, written and taught about the meaning of Torah and its relevance to contemporary circumstances. Until the publication of The Torah: A Women’s Commentary in 2008, the teachings of women scholars and Jewish professionals on the significance of Torah in their lives had not been shared in such a dedicated work. The “Contemporary Reflections” section in The Torah: A Women’s Commentary “enable us to hear women’s voices that reckon with divine revelation….each essay shows the significance of Torah as a record of God’s revelation to Israel: it is a repository of Jewish memory, however incomplete, from which we, as individuals and as members of contemporary Jewish communities, can attempt to hear and understand the voice of God.” (Ellen Umansky, “Women and Contemporary Reflection,” The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, page ix) Today’s Ten Minutes of Torah is excerpted from The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, pages 985-986. The story in parashat Pinchas about Zelophehad's five daughters--Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah (Numbers 27:1-11)-encapsulates the challenges that women faced and what they had to do in order to affirm their rights with dignity. Numbers 26 describes a census taken of all males over the age of 20 (v. 2). As part of the list of the various clans, we read that "Zelophehad... had no sons, only daughters" (v. 33). As the census was concluded, God instructs Moses: "Among these shall the land be apportioned as shares" (v. 53). "Among these" refers to the males listed in the census; hence, we can conclude that Zelophehad's daughters were not counted in the census and also were not to receive any land as inheritance.