"Ooo, she likes to dance with the devil... whoever the devil ma-a-aa-ayyyy be" sings the devil or Daryn Van Horne in the little known musical 'Witches of Eastwick', which I always thought was Witches of Elsternwick, but that's a story for another time. This week I want to talk about the devil's place in Judaism, witches and all things pagan. In a recent assignment, we were asked to discuss the health beliefs of a particular subgroup in Australia. Instead of calling up AUJS an

This week I don't want to discuss the parasha, I'm sorry and I hope the parasha forgives me. I want to discuss the past ten days. The past ten days are the first time since shnat when I've missed Israel. Of course, I've missed Israel before, for the first two weeks here I walked around like a fish out of water, wondering where all these straight lines came from, why everyone was following so many rules, and why I couldn't eat anything I wanted any more. Those feelings never l

In this weeks’ Parsha, we’re given a gentle tap on the shoulder to remind ourselves of what ‘Loshing’ can really do. Whether it’s that someone in your group assignment who’s a bigger lump than your local third years or that mysterious co-worker who’s been ‘sick’ one too many times, Lashon Hara is never appreciated (and let’s be real… you’ll probably get tzorisis) The Parsha highlights two different kinds of people who participate in Lashon Hara; a person of ‘distinction’ vers

This week's parasha concerns itself with Tzaraat- the blemishes a person would find on their skin, clothes or home when they had spiritually 'gone off the derech'. This would occur during Am Yisrael's desert encampment and the affected person would have to follow a certain process in order to become pure and return to the camp. When I was searching for something to share in this week's Dvar Torah, this was definitely NOT a topic I wanted to discuss. Loshen Hara; gossip is oft