JTS Torah Archive

A Dialogue Across the Ages

Nov 29, 2003 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Toledot

Like his father Abraham, Isaac is driven by famine to take refuge in the city of Gerar, in the western Negev northwest of Be’er Sheva. The abundance of water for their large herds is what spurs them to relocate, and it is over water that both of the patriarchs contend with the locals. In the first instance, Abraham accuses the ruler of Gerar, Abimelech, that servants of the latter stripped him of a well that he had dug. Abimelech professes to be ignorant of the theft and willing to make amends; whereupon he and Abraham strike a pact. A gift of seven ewes by Abraham will serve to legally establish his claim of ownership of the well. Indeed, according to the biblical account, the pact gives rise to the name of Be’er Sheva, “the well of seven.” At the time, the dominion of Gerar must have stretched eastward to Be’er Sheva, which appears to have had no ruler of its own (21:22-32).

The Meaning of the Shalshelet

Nov 22, 2003 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah

In 1981, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) published The Torah: A Modern Commentary, admirably edited by Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut. The first of the denominational commentaries, it combined an unflinchingly scholarly perspective with a reverence for traditional readings. Conspicuously absent, from the Hebrew text, however, was the trope, the musical notations by which the Torah is chanted in the synagogue. The omission reflected Reform practice: in most Reform synagogues where the Torah is read, it is literally read and not chanted. But the omission triggered a storm of criticism and the UAHC quickly put out a second edition that included the trope.

Confronting God

Nov 15, 2003 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayera

The tension and ultimate destruction of Sodom and Gemorrah stand at the core of Parashat Vayera. God’s quality of justice is ironically put on trial. One midrash places the following words in the mouth of Abraham as he encourages God to think twice about the immanent destruction of these towns: “If You seek to have a world, strict justice cannot be exercised; and if You seek strict justice, there will be no world . . . You can have only one of the two. If you do not relent a little, the world will not endure” (Genesis Rabbah 39:6).

Visiting the Sick

Nov 15, 2003 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayera

During World War II and the Korean War, my father served as the civilian Jewish chaplain at the sprawling army hospital at Valley Forge, not far from his pulpit in Pottstown. Every Wednesday he would walk its endless halls visiting wounded Jewish servicemen. On Thursday evenings he returned to conduct a prayer service for them accompanied by a few women from the synagogue sisterhood who had prepared a collation of kosher deli. No part of my father’s rabbinate gave him more satisfaction because no Jews ever needed him more than this pitiful refuse of military carnage. Their numbers were large and their condition often shattering. My father assuaged their pain with warmth, wisdom and faith. In 1918, as a teenager in the German army on the Western Front, he had witnessed the devastating brutality of mechanized warfare and the chaos of defeat. That experience brought him to choose the rabbinate while his empathy for victims of misfortune made him an ideal pastor. He turned the mitzvah of bikkur holim (visiting the sick) into a fine art.

Between Humility and Grandeur

Nov 9, 2003 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Lekh Lekha

Judaism is a religion of polarities. An in-depth view of reality requires a stereoscope. No single lens can do justice to any aspect of the complexity of our experience of the world.

Patriarchs and Matriarchs

Nov 8, 2003 By Lewis Warshauer | Commentary | Lekh Lekha

The central prayer of Jewish prayers, the Amidah, begins by identifying to whom one is praying: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. This identification serves not only to say who God is, but also to specify who the Jews are: the descendants of those patriarchs. At the same time, the Jews are also descendants of the matriarchs, and here’s the rub: though God’s promises are recorded in the Torah as given to the men, they would not have been achieved without the women.

Chaos and Creation

Nov 1, 2003 By Melissa Crespy | Commentary | Noah

Striking me, on this year’s reading of Parashat Noah, were the two following verses: “God caused a wind to blow across the earth, and the waters subsided” (Genesis 8:1), and “But the dove could not find a resting place for its foot (v’lo matz’ah ha-yonah manoah), and returned to him to the ark, for there was water over all the earth” (Genesis 8:9).

Genesis and Infertility

Nov 1, 2003 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Noah

My aunt and uncle never had children. In a very real sense, my sister and I were their surrogate family. We visited them often, stayed with them in the summers and loved them dearly. In Germany, my uncle had been a textile salesman. When they came to America in 1937, he decided to work with dogs, his lifelong passion, rather than fabrics. Eventually, they acquired a kennel for dogs out in Yaphank, Long Island, and quickly endowed it with renown by dint of hard work. They boarded, bred and even showed dogs. 

The Garments of Adam and Eve

Oct 25, 2003 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Bereishit

When Franz Rosenzweig published his unconventional German translation of ninety-two Hebrew poems by Judah Halevi, he headed his afterword self-effacingly with a plea from a German translator of The Iliad: “Oh dear reader, learn Greek and throw my translation into the fire.”

The Gift of Shabbat

Oct 25, 2003 By Rachel Ain | Commentary | Bereishit

In Parashat Bereishit, we are told that “God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen 1:27).

In God’s Image

Oct 25, 2003 By Rachel Ain | Commentary | Bereishit

In Parashat Bereishit , we are told that “God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen 1:27).

Taking Refuge in Sacred Texts

Oct 19, 2003 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Simhat Torah

Most books that we read we never open again. A classic draws us to revisit it on occasion. Not so the Torah. As we finish reading it yearly in our synagogues, we immediately begin it afresh, without interruption.

Repairing Jonah’s Sukkah

Oct 11, 2003 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Sukkot | Yom Kippur

This coming Friday evening we herald in the first festival of the Jewish year, Sukkot. Between Motzei Yom Kippur (the evening concluding Yom Kippur) and Friday, sukkot (temporary booths) are built all around the Jewish world. It is an especially memorable event in Israel where cities and villages alike are transformed by the festival greenery. Special markets spring up across the country peddling the four species that are brought together as we celebrate the absolute joy of the holiday. The fragrance of the etrog embraces all as we enter the sukkah, declaring our faith in God’s protection. That said, the sukkah is not only at the essence of Sukkot; the sukkah, in all its beauty and symbolism provides a powerful bridge between the most sacred day of the year, Yom Kippur, and the harvest festival of Sukkot.

Connecting Pesah with Sukkot

Oct 10, 2003 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Pesah | Sukkot

The parallelism between Sukkot and Pesach is striking. The Torah scripts them to start on the fifteenth day of the month when the moon is full and to last for seven days. Originally agricultural festivals, their historical overlay links them both to the redemption from Egypt. In each case, the name of the festival derives from the ritual which is its most prominent feature. In tandem, the two anchor the changing of the seasons in the fall and the spring (the two times of year when the seasons actually change in the Middle East) in the biblical calendar. They are the axis on which that calendar turns.

Crafting a Moral Compass

Oct 6, 2003 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Yom Kippur

If the liturgy of Yom Kippur is a symphony in five movements, then the leitmotif that unites them is the public confession. From Minhah prior to Kol Nedrei till the Ne’ilah service at the end of Yom Kippur, every Amidah (silent devotion) has at least one confessional prayer. Indeed, five of the six (excluding Ne’ilah) have two: the short version beginning with Ashamnu (we have acted with malice), which lists twenty-four generic types of reprehensible behavior and the long version of Al Het Shehatanu (for the sin that we have committed.), which doubles the number to forty-four generic types. Yom Kippur is utterly distinctive in the annual cycle of Jewish holy days for many reasons; not the least of which is that it is the only time that Jews confess publicly. Far more private is the traditional deathbed prayer of confession whose poignancy is underlined by the fact that it is cast in the first person singular, rather than in the plural like Yom Kippur.

Dialogue with the Past

Oct 4, 2003 By Lewis Warshauer | Commentary | Ha'azinu | Shabbat Shuvah

Among all the societies where Jews have lived, America has been least conducive to maintaining a sense of the past. A building from thirty years ago can be a historic landmark; kitchenware from forty years ago qualifies as antique. Objects from the past are allowed to have a fashionable revival but ideas, stories, and concepts from the past are considered outmoded.

A Universal New Year

Sep 27, 2003 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Rosh Hashanah

Living in a universe at least thirteen billion years old, we view with mild disclaim an ancient rabbinic dispute over the exact month in which God created it. Not long after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans, two of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai’s renowned disciples expressed opposing views. Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus insisted that God had created the world in the month of Tishrei, while Rabbi Yekoshua ben Hananyah contended that the event occurred in Nisan. Both rejected the Geek view that the cosmos might be eternal and uncreated. For the Torah and rabbinic Judaism, the ultimate reassurance of God’s existence is the miracle of creation, the mother of all miracles (BT Rosh Hashanah 106-11a).

Remembrance, Childbirth, and Renewal

Sep 27, 2003 By Melissa Crespy | Commentary | Rosh Hashanah

Remembrance. Childbirth. Renewed hopes and dreams.

Torah and Teshuvah

Sep 20, 2003 By Lauren Eichler Berkun | Commentary | Nitzavim | Vayeilekh | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

The beautiful and famous words of this week’s parashah have always touched my heart. This year, I read the following passage with new lenses, as I immerse myself in the month of Elul and the spiritual preparations for teshuvah. The Torah teaches:

“Surely, this Instruction (Ha-Mitzvah Ha-Zot) which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, ‘Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who among us can cross the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?’ No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it” (Deut. 30:11-14).

Moments of Transition

Sep 13, 2003 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Ki Tavo

Liminal moments are often marked by meaningful ceremonies. A baby is welcomed into the covenant of the Jewish people through a simhat bat or brit milah ceremony. Children celebrate becoming a bar or bat mitzvah by being called to the Torah. Marriage is marked by a ritual of kiddushin (sanctification) under the huppah. So too are such moments ritualized in the annual Jewish calendar. One need only think of the coming High Holidays — Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur — to be reminded of the special rituals that transition us into the new year (the sounding of the shofar, tashlikh, and the ascetic laws in observance of Yom Kippur).