Time Capsule
![Time Capsule](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/themes/jts/dist/img/logo_red_bush.jpeg)
This page explores historical events through the lens of the JTS Torah commentaries that reflect a particular event or time. Starting in the 17th Century, sermons started reflecting not just concerns to the Jewish world, but those of the broader society in which Jews lived.[1] In looking back at the ways in which Jewish thought leaders engaged issues around 9/11, immigration, or COVID-19, consider how we continue to feel the impacts of these events and issues today and how our thinking has shifted.
Tip the Scales (Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz): U-netaneh Tokef during the COVID Pandemic
A Message for 9/11 (Chancellor Emeritus Ismar Schorsch): A meditation and prayer in the immediate aftermath of tragedy.
Good in the Face of Evil (Chancellor Emeritus Ismar Schorsch): Yom Kippur reflection from September 2001
9/11 in Perspective (Chancellor Emeritus Ismar Schorsch): Living life to the fullest in light of the first yahrzeit of 9/11 from 2002
A Call for Hope (Former Chancellor Arnold Eisen): A Reflection on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11
Remember the Children (Rabbi Daniel Nevins): Family Separation as an Immigration Policy
Teshuvah/Repentance (Rabbi Joanna Katz): Repentence as understood through the US prison system
Do Women’s Vows Count? A 21st Century Problem (Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay): Oaths in light of the overturning of Roe v. Wade
EPHEMERA
![](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/High-Holiday-Ad-Curative-Preventive-Perfective-edited-1022x1024.jpg)
“Democracy is unfinished business in our land”
![](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/1989_10_5-1-150x150.jpg)
In this New Year, The Jewish Theological Society of America implores everyone…to take responsibility for the preservation of our common home
[1] Saperstein, Marc. “Changes in the Modern Sermon.” The Encyclopedia of Judaism (Volume 5, Supplement 2) Leiden, E.J. Brill: 2004. https://home.gwu.edu/~msaper/sermon.html