God’s Presence in the Arms of Loved Ones
Jan 18, 2003 By Melissa Crespy | Commentary | Beshallah
On the occasion of this joyful Shabbat, on which we celebrate the crossing of the Sea of Reeds, (and this year, Tu Bishevat), I find myself more contemplative than joyful.
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Torah and Jewish Survival
Jan 18, 2003 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Beshallah
We tend to think of revelation as a highly restrictive term. The fate of a revealed text is to be immutable. We humans have no right to alter what God has given. But in Judaism precisely because the Torah is revered as divine, it becomes susceptible to unending interpretation. It would be a denigration of God’s word to saddle it with just a single meaning. In contrast to human speech, which carries a finite range of meanings, the language of God was deemed to be endowed with an infinity of meanings. This theology freed the Rabbis to do midrash, creating the anomaly of a canon without closure. The vessels kept changing their contents. New challenges elicited new insights into a text inviolable only on the surface.
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Dread of Darkness
Jan 11, 2003 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Bo
Darkness unsettles us. As children we went to sleep with a small light on; as adults we prefer to come home to a dwelling not totally dark. We fear what we cannot see. It is for this reason that we start the evening service with the recitation of a verse from Psalm 78: “But he, the compassionate one, would expiate sin, and not destroy; he would again and again turn back his anger, and would not arouse his full wrath” (v. 38, trans. by Edward J. Greenstein). As the darkness of night envelops us, we affirm God’s nearness. God does not withdraw with the setting of the sun.
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Fourth Sons
Jan 11, 2003 By Lewis Warshauer | Commentary | Bo | Pesah
I am fortunate to be able to teach to people who know how to ask questions. My students are part of the universe of transmitters and receivers of Judaism. Yet I sometimes wonder about people who are not in my orbit. It is as if a traveler comes to Earth and occupies himself with its inhabitants and their activities, and then looks out into the vast deep darkness of space and wonders who is out there in that domain of silence.
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Small Acts of Kindness
Jan 4, 2003 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Va'era
A careful reading of the Torah narrative would quickly persuade us that not all of the ten plagues are unleashed by Moses. The midrash, in fact, attributes only three to Moses – those of hail, locusts and darkness. The first three plagues – those of blood, frogs and vermin – are attributed to Aaron, while still three others – insects, pestilence and the death of the first born – come directly from God. Finally, one plague – that of boils – is triggered by all three of them jointly.
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What’s in a Name?
Jan 4, 2003 By Lauren Eichler Berkun | Commentary | Va'era
The Book of Exodus is entitled “Shemot” in Hebrew, meaning “Names.” In the first parashah of Shemot, we learned the names of the Children of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob. This week, in the second portion of Shemot, we focus on the names of God. The opening statement of Parashat Va—Era has puzzled Torah commentators throughout many centuries . . .
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Stranger in a Foreign Land
Dec 28, 2002 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Shemot
Moses names his first born son Gershom, still a common Hebrew name. The child is born to him and his wife Zipporah in the land of Midian, to which he fled after he murdered an Egyptian taskmaster. We do not hear of Gershom again in the epic, yet his name bears on the destiny of his father and his people. The name consists of two Hebrew words, “ger sham,” meaning “a stranger there.” By bestowing it on his son, Moses stresses the complexity of his own fate: “I have been a stranger in a foreign land” (Exodus 2:22).
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Legacy and Jewish Identity
Dec 28, 2002 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Shemot
What is the greatest legacy we can leave to our children and grandchildren?
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The Need to Sojourn
Dec 21, 2002 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayehi
The book of Genesis ends as it starts, with its lead characters in a state of exile. The existential human condition is to be out of place, far from home. Jacob’s clan no longer resides in the land promised to his father and grandfather. Yet the narrator makes it unmistakably clear that their final destination was not Egypt, but Canaan, the land that would eventually bear Jacob’s other name, Israel, the one who “strove with beings divine and human and prevailed” (Genesis 32:29).
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Memories
Dec 21, 2002 By Melissa Crespy | Commentary | Vayehi
The death of a parent is, for most of us, a profound loss. When we lose our mother or our father, we lose the people who have known us most deeply from the very inception of our lives. For many of us, we lose the people who have been our most ardent advocates, our biggest fans, our most loyal supporters. We lose the anchor in our lives, the people who have nurtured and loved us, counseled and guided us through problems small and large. When a parent dies — though we may have love from partners, children and friends — the special love, the intense love of that parent dies with him or her. And we are left bereft.
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Brothers Reunited
Dec 14, 2002 By Charles Savenor | Commentary | Vayiggash
The moment of truth has arrived. With Benjamin framed for stealing and sentenced to enslavement, Joseph waits to see how Jacob’s other sons will respond. Joseph believes that his well-orchestrated ruse will finally expose his brothers’ true colors.
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The Life and Death of Relationships
Dec 14, 2002 By Lewis Warshauer | Commentary | Vayiggash
Family reunions come in several varieties. They might be occasions of joy — or sadness. Relationships are revived — or neglected. Change is the only constant.
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Language of Continuity
Dec 7, 2002 By Lauren Eichler Berkun | Commentary | Miketz | Hanukkah
“Assimilation” and “Jewish Continuity” are two pressing issues in our Jewish consciousness which are neither modern nor unique to our history as a people. It is fitting to read the story of Joseph’s political ascendancy in Egypt during this Shabbat Hanukkah. In this week’s Torah portion, and during the Festival of Lights, we reflect upon the persistent challenges of assimilation and Jewish continuity. Paradoxically, we learn that Jewish survival often necessitates a degree of acculturation.
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It’s Alright to Cry
Dec 7, 2002 By Shuly Rubin Schwartz | Commentary | Miketz
In the 1970’s football star Roosevelt “Rosey” Grier sang “It’s Alright to Cry” on the landmark record album “Free to Be You and Me,” produced by Marlo Thomas. The former New York Giants defensive tackle told us, in the Carol Hall song, that “crying gets the sad out of you. It’s all right to cry; it might make you feel better.” Feminism had arrived in America, and men — including football stars with feminine nicknames – were permitted, even encouraged, to show their emotions and cry.
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Where It’s Least Expected
Nov 30, 2002 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayeshev
God’s Presence in our world is truly in the eye of the beholder. While there are times we feel an acute absence of God in our lives, there are also times that we are keenly aware of God’s Presence. More often than not, it is in times of distress and tragedy that we turn to be discovered by God rather than in times of blessing. Our patriarch Jacob is the quintessential model of such relationship. When Jacob leaves home and again when he is about to confront his brother Esau after twenty years, Jacob prays to God — for protection and blessing.
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Appreciating Small Miracles
Nov 30, 2002 By Joshua Heller | Commentary | Vayeshev | Hanukkah
This week’s parasha, Vayeshev, often falls on the Shabbat of Hannukah. Vayeshev and the Festival of Lights in fact share a number of connections, though on the surface there would seem to be little that is light in the parashah. In melodramatic fashion, each upturn in the story is matched by a sharper downturn. Joseph is loved most of all by his father, so he is hated by his brothers. When Reuven saves him from his brothers’ murderous intent, Joseph is taken from the pit and sold into slavery. He works his way up to be chief of Potiphar’s household, only to be falsely accused of a rape and cast into prison. He earns the gratitude of Pharaoh’s cupbearer, but it turns out to be short-lived, and Joseph must spend the week from Vayeshev to Mi-ketz languishing in the dungeon. At the end of this week’s reading it is difficult to see the glass as half full.
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The Reconciliation that Wasn’t
Nov 23, 2002 By Melissa Crespy | Commentary | Vayishlah
I am struck, on this reading of Parashat Va-Yishlah, by the dramatic tension between Jacob and Esau, as they anticipate meeting and as they finally cry together after 20 years of not seeing or speaking to each other. Though not many of us “run off with the birthright” of our siblings these days, many of us have difficult relationships with a brother or sister with whom we try to reach reconciliation. But it is not easy. And sometimes, it is impossible.
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Winston Churchill and Our Patriarch Jacob
Nov 23, 2002 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Vayishlah
“Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he remains silent.” This indictment, spoken by Winston Churchill, initially reminds me of our patriarch Jacob. We read this week one of the most disturbing stories contained in the Genesis narrative – the abduction of Dinah. As ourparashah tells us, Dinah was the daughter of Leah and Jacob, sister to Shimon and Levi. When she went out one day to meet the other young women of the land, the local prince, Shechem, abducted her. Upon hearing the news of this violation, Jacob reacted as we never would have supposed a father would – with silence.
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Learning From Our Ancestor’s Struggles
Nov 22, 2002 By Melissa Crespy | Commentary | Vayetzei
I cannot read Parashat Va-Yetze dispassionately. The struggle between two sisters for the love of the same man, the back and forth attempt to win his affections by bearing more and more children, and the visible jealousy and pain that each one of them experiences, leaves me feeling angry every time I read the story. Particularly galling is Jacob’s reaction to Rachel—the wife whom he loves deeply—when she cannot become pregnant. She has seen her sister Leah bear Jacob three sons (presumably within three years), and can no longer take the pain of being the barren wife. “Give me children, or I shall die” she says to Jacob (Genesis 30:1). And the Torah records his response: “Jacob was incensed at Rachel, and said, “Can I take the place of God (‘hatahat elohim anokhi‘), who has denied you fruit of the womb?”
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Mother Rachel
Nov 16, 2002 By Lewis Warshauer | Commentary | Vayetzei
Family stories are never objective. They are told with a point in mind. When stories are about someone who has died, the storyteller has free rein; the person is no longer around to object. Often this results in beatification. A late relative is made out to be so saintly that the person would hardly recognize him or herself. On the other hand, stories can demonize someone beyond the bounds of fairness or credibility.
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