Rabbi Ana Bonnheim

Rabbi Ana Bonnheim is the program director for Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's Founders’ Fellowship. She lives in Charlotte, N.C.

Another Miriam Worth Remembering

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Carole B. Balin, Ph.D.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States this year, Rabbi Carole Balin, Ph.D., is sharing eight chapters of an "alternative Book of Numbers” designed to tell the stories of Jewish women who combined civic engagement with Jewish values in a 40-year struggle “in the wilderness” to pass the 19th Amendment.​

The Formation of a People

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Ana Bonnheim

Parashat Vayak’heil/P’kudei is a double Torah portion that concludes the Book of Exodus. The paired Torah portions describe the building of the Tabernacle and the anointing of the priests. The parashiyot are primarily contain many verses of detailed plans and descriptions of rituals, some of which are hard to visualize sitting in such a different world today.

A Concrete Relationship with God

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Ana Bonnheim

In Parashat Ki Tisa, the Israelites wait for Moses to return from the mountaintop. Feeling insecure with a lack of leadership, they tell Aaron to create a Golden Calf.

Each of Us Can Kindle the Light Within

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Ana Bonnheim

We find the initial reference to the ner tamid in this week’s Torah portion, Parashat T’tzaveh . The parashah opens with the instructions for creating and maintaining the ner tamid. “You shall further instruct the Israelites to bring you clear oil of beaten olives for lighting, for kindling lamps regularly. Aaron and his sons shall set them up in the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain which is over [the Ark of the Pact], [to burn] from evening to morning before the Eternal. It shall be a due from the Israelites for all time, throughout the ages” (Exodus 27:20-21).