Joshua Schwartz
ContributorJoshua Schwartz is the spiritual leader of Beth Lida Forest Hill Synagogue in Toronto, Ontario. He is the co-creator of the Seder Oneg Shabbos blessing book and second author of The Torah of Music. This essay is adapted from a sermon delivered on March 14, 2020.
Current Events
March 26, 2020
Social Distance, Spiritual Presence
How fitting that, in this time of social distancing, the calendar that orders the weekly Torah reading has us chanting parshat Parah, which details the arcane rite of the Red Heifer, described in Numbers 19. Here, a pure-red cow is burnt to ashes and mixed in with water, which is used to cleanse all those impurified by contact