Rabbi Howard Morrison

On Monday morning, we learned about another terrible terrorist act of evil, this time at Ramot Junction bus stop in Jerusalem. We mourn the losses of Levi Yitzchak Pash, Yisrael Matzner, Rabbi Yosef David, Rabbi Mordechai Steintzag, Yaakov Pinto, and Sara Mendelson. May their memories be for a blessing, and may their families find comfort.

This week's Parsha of Ki Tavo contains a list of blessings and curses. Have the curses already taken place in our history? Are they anticipatory of some unknown future? Are they understood as deterrents but not to actually occur? There is no single response to these questions. What we do know is that the curses are recited as we are ending the current calendar year. There is a teaching in our tradition based on this week's parsha that we read the curses at the end of a year so that the new year will be filled only or mostly with blessings. Given the horrors of the last two years, harkening back to October 7, 2023, may the pain and suffering come to an end. May the coming year be filled with blessings.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Howard Morrison