Rabbi Mark is entering his 50th year in the active rabbinate. He was born in New York City and grew up attending religious schools and Orthodox synagogues on the Lower East Side. He graduated from Yeshiva University with degrees in English Language and Literature and in Bible and Jewish Education, and later continued graduate studies in English while combining teaching with his rabbinical work.
Rabbi Mark met his wife, Anbeth, while they were both working at a Reform temple in Brooklyn. They have served congregations in New Jersey, North Carolina, and New Hampshire, and came to Temple Sholom in Florida in 2009. They have two grown children.
Shlach MiniDrash 2026
By Rabbi David Mark
At the beginning of the Torah Portion, the Israelites leave Mt. Sinai, where they had been encamped for a year. There are perhaps a dozen different mountains and hills in the Sinai Peninsula which have been considered to be the “real” Mt. Sinai, but this most traditional one, also known by its Arabic name of Jebel Musa (Head of Moses) is located in the southern mountainous region of the peninsula. There is even a modern Egyptian city (town?) known as St. Catherine. I myself visited it in 1972, when Sinai was still an Israeli war trophy.
What is distinguished about this particular Mt. Sinai is that I always term it as a “very Jewish” mountain. No hiking boots or picks are necessary: over the centuries, the patient monks took the time to carve stone steps going up the mountain, so that any tourist (with an Egyptian visa, of course) can mimic Moshe Rabeinu by scampering up the same steps that he supposedly did.
It is also significant that Sinai is not considered a “holy place” in the usual understanding of that phrase, even though both heaven and earth once met on its humble surface, for the Giving of the Torah. Why do you suppose that that is so?
Shabbat June 13, 2026—28 Sivan 5786
Torah Portion Shlach
Bless the New Month of Tamuz
(Begins Mon. & Tues., 6/15-/16)
| Aliyah | Page | Chapter | Verse |
|---|---|---|---|
| KOHEN | 623 | 13 | 1-3 |
| LEVI | 623 | 13 | 4-6 |
| SHELISHI | 623 | 13 | 7-9 |
| REVII | 623 | 13 | 10-12 |
| CHAMISHI | 623 | 13 | 13-15 |
| SHISHI | 623 | 13 | 16-18 |
| SHEVII | 624 | 13 | 19-21 |
| MAFTIR | 633 | 15 | 37-41 |
Haftorah—P.635, Joshua 2:1-24