Rabbi Victor’s Words of Torah

Torah Seeds

Chavraya is an Aramaic term for a group joined together in common purpose for the common good. A synagogue community is a chavraya. Every Friday, as we approach Shabbos, I write a Torah letter to my community, the chavraya of Nehar Shalom. The writing of these letters has become an important part of the week for me and of my own spiritual practice. In a certain way, they have become love letters for me, feeling a suffusion of affection each week as I write the word chavraya.

I am grateful for the opportunity to share my own reflections on the weekly Torah portion and to engage and wrestle with issues that arise at the intersection of Torah and life. These letters are incomplete, waiting to be enriched with the insights of others. I offer them to you as seeds of Torah, inviting you to add the living water of your own insights. Together, an ever-expanding chavraya, we shall bring new blossoms to the Tree of Life that is Torah.

Click on a title to download a pdf of the Torah letter.

• Sefer B’reishit/Genesis
• Sefer Sh’mot/Exodus
• Sefer Va’yikra/Leviticus
• Sefer B’midbar/Numbers
• Sefer D’varim/Deuteronomy

High Holy Day D‘rashot

• Completing a Chapter in the Book of Life, Yom Kippur 5780
• Climate Just Transition, Kol Nidre 5780 – by Rabbinical Intern Noam Lerman
• Teshuva, Tefilah, Tsedukah, Rosh Hashana Day 2, 5780 – by Rabbinical Intern Noam Lerman
• Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and his Gentle Challenge to Each of Us, Rosh Hashana Day 1, 5780
• A Seven Days Journey from Death to Life, Yom Kippur 5779
• If you Remove one Stone, the Archway of Community Collapses, Kol Nidre, 5779 – by Rabbinical Student Noam Lerman
• Unlock All of Their Shackles, Rosh Hashana Day 2, 5779 – by Rabbinical Student Noam Lerman
• Who is the Golem: A Meditation on Human Responsibility, Rosh Hashana Day 1, 5779
• Coming Through the Days – To Behold the Meaning in Every Time and Season, Yom Kippur 5778.
• Rooted Like a Tree, Kol Nidre, 5778 – by Rabbinical Student Nomi Lerman
• Bring the Walls Down, Rosh Hashana Day 2, 5778 – by Rabbinical Student Nomi Lerman
• In the Dark Times – How Can I Keep From Singing, Rosh Hashana Day 1, 5778
• A Journey of Remembrance and Hope, Yom Kippur 5777.
• Songs of our Souls, Kol Nidre, 5777 – by Rabbinical student Nomi Lerman
• The Earth as Our Collective Responsibility, Rosh Hashana Day 2, 5777 – by Rabbinical Student Nomi Lerman
• I’m in it, Tears and All: A Theology of Engagement with the World and Each Other, Rosh Hashana Day 1, 5777
• The Most Beautiful Ketubah and its Affirmation of Life, Yom Kippur, 5776.
• Too Beautiful To Miss, Kol Nidre, 5776 – by Rabbinical Student Mónica Gomery
• Divinely Interconnected: Renewing our Commitments to Racial Justice, Rosh Hashana Day 2, 5776 – by Rabbinical Student Mónica Gomery
• All We are Saying is Give Peace a Chance: T’shuva as Paradigm Shift, Rosh Hashana Day 1, 5776
• Meditations on a Fountain Pen: Writing Ourselves into the Book of Life, Yom Kippur, 5775
• Standing at the Precipice between Here and There- Kol Nidre, 5775  – by Rabbi Adina Allen
• Shmitah: A Call to Release the Strings on our Heart – Rosh Hashana Day 2, 5775  – by Rabbi Adina Allen
• The Auto Mechanic and the Book Seller: TIkkun across the Iraeli Divide –  Rosh Hashannah Day 1, 5775
• House of the Living: My Once and Future Neighborhood – Yom Kippur, 5774
• Avodat HaLev, Kol Nidre 5774 – by Rabbinical Student Adina Allen
• Hayom Harat Olam – Rosh Hashana Day 2, 5774 – by Rabbinical Student Adina Allen
• Ripples on the Prinsengracht – Rosh Hashana Day 1, 5774
• Don’t Forget the Apikorsim – Yom Kippur, 5773
• The Migration of a Melody – Kol Nidre, 5773
• Becoming Our True Selves – Rosh Hashana Day 2, 5773 – by Rabbinical Student Adina Allen
• Questions to Guide us on a Journey of Hope, Rosh Hashana Day 1, 5773
• The Sacred Stuff of Memory – Yom Kippur, 5772
• We All Know Each Other ­Even if We Don’t – Yom Kippur evening, 5772
• The Digger of Wells — A Different Kind of Hero – Rosh Hashana, 5772
• The Summer Tenants – Yom Kippur, 5771
• A Conversation With The Slonimer Rebbe – Yom Kippur Evening , 5771
• Morning Light Come, The Journey to One – Rosh Hashana, 5771
• To Live With Integrity – Yom Kippur, 5770
• We Are the River – Yom Kippur Evening, 5770
• Meditations on Creating a Society to be in the Image of God – Rosh Hashana, 5770
• A Torah of Nonviolence – Rosh Hashanah, 5769
• Hearing the Truth of a Tender Heart – Rosh Hashanah, 5767

Reflections On Social Issues

• Dialogue as the Beginning of Return – Jewish Advocate November 2014
• Yet Again, A Prayer for Israel and Gaza – July 2014
• Blessing for Students Going to Israel to Study – June 2014
• Prayer at the Islamic Society of Boston Mosque – April 2013
• Prayer Before the Boston City Council – April 2011
• A Jewish Prayer for Egypt – February 2011
• Engaging the Other, Jewish Advocate – June 2010
• Letting Go of Conflict – July 2009
• Testimony in Support of Transgender Rights – April 2009
• Prayer for America – January 2009
• A Prayer for Israel, For the Innocents, For Peace – July 2006
• In Support of Equal Marriage – May 2006
• No Human Being Is Illegal – April 2006
• Every Human Being Is Created In The Image of God: An Intention For Reading Leviticus 18