The great Israeli feminist professor and leader of numerous organizations, Alice Shalvi, wrote about this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tavo, and its relevance to the Jewish calendar and this season of reflection and renewal. She notes that life transitions are often “accompanied by self-scrutiny, a vow, and a determination to improve, to ‘turn over a new leaf.’…Remembrance of things past is an essential part of developing a new identity, beginning a new existence.”
Transition often includes ritual that helps us look back and arrive in our new, present moment. Shalvi points to the “ceremony that marks the entry into the Land of Israel (Deuteronomy 26:1-10): as an expression of gratitude, the people are to bring a basket filled with the first fruits of the land’s bounty and to recount the events that led to the long-awaited settlement of the land.” She applies this process to her own reflection on the founding of Israel, and the ideals of equality, particularly for girls and women, to which she dedicated her life’s work. You can find her full piece here.
As the moon reaches its fullest this Friday and then wanes in the two weeks until Rosh Hashanah, we can begin to recount the events of our lives, to express gratitude and reflect on what we have learned from our decisions, challenges, experiences, ideas and as we enter the new year. May the rituals of this season help us to make the transition with awareness.
Wishing you Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller
Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8) Torah Reading Aug. 29, 2026
August 27, 2026 by Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller • D'var Torah, Julie Saxe-Taller
The great Israeli feminist professor and leader of numerous organizations, Alice Shalvi, wrote about this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tavo, and its relevance to the Jewish calendar and this season of reflection and renewal. She notes that life transitions are often “accompanied by self-scrutiny, a vow, and a determination to improve, to ‘turn over a new leaf.’…Remembrance of things past is an essential part of developing a new identity, beginning a new existence.”
Transition often includes ritual that helps us look back and arrive in our new, present moment. Shalvi points to the “ceremony that marks the entry into the Land of Israel (Deuteronomy 26:1-10): as an expression of gratitude, the people are to bring a basket filled with the first fruits of the land’s bounty and to recount the events that led to the long-awaited settlement of the land.” She applies this process to her own reflection on the founding of Israel, and the ideals of equality, particularly for girls and women, to which she dedicated her life’s work. You can find her full piece here.
As the moon reaches its fullest this Friday and then wanes in the two weeks until Rosh Hashanah, we can begin to recount the events of our lives, to express gratitude and reflect on what we have learned from our decisions, challenges, experiences, ideas and as we enter the new year. May the rituals of this season help us to make the transition with awareness.
Wishing you Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller