JTS Torah Commentary

Can We Be Empowered by Patriarchal Texts?

Dec 9, 2022 By Alison L. Joseph | Commentary | Vayishlah

I have long been bothered by the story of Dinah in Genesis 34. This narrative, often referred to as the “Rape of Dinah,” is difficult to read, not only because sexual violence against a young woman is employed as a plot device, but also because I’m not sure why the story is included in the Torah in the first place. My concern with the story is more acute when I read it within our liturgical calendar as just another episode in the Jacob cycle (Gen. 25–35).

Censoring the Holocaust: How Books Shape Our View of a Painful Past

Dec 5, 2022 By Edna Friedberg | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Ever since the 1940s, books about the Holocaust have proven flashpoints. From early editions of The Diary of Anne Frank that omitted controversial passages to more recent attempts to ban the graphic memoir Maus from some classrooms, what we read about this difficult history often amplifies broader societal debates. In this session we look back at Holocaust literature (both fiction and non-fiction) and how its popularity shifts depending on time and place. 

JTS Rabbinic Convocation, December 2022

Dec 5, 2022 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

Honor a Rabbi with a Donation to JTS We invite you to make a contribution to JTS in honor of your rabbi or one of the other Conservative rabbis recognized for over 25 years of distinguished service. Your gift helps educate a new generation of spiritual leaders for the Jewish people. Program PROCESSIONAL (0:00)Opening niggun […]

Between the Lines: The Object of Jewish Literature

Dec 5, 2022 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

THE OBJECT OF JEWISH LITERATURE: A MATERIAL HISTORY JTS Professor Barbara E. Mann discusses her latest book, The Object of Jewish Literature, a history of modern Jewish literature that explores our enduring attachment to the book as an object. With the rise of digital media, the “death of the book” has been widely discussed. But the physical object […]

Was Laban Really Worse than Pharaoh?

Dec 2, 2022 By Avi Garelick | Commentary | Vayetzei

According to the Passover Haggadah, Laban, Jacob’s father-in-law, is the archvillain of Jewish history, even more dangerous than the Pharaoh who enslaved the people of Israel and launched a campaign of male infanticide. Yet, after this provocative comparison, the Haggadah leaves the rest as an exercise for the reader. Laban “sought to uproot it all,” but how? What makes Laban so dangerous?

How Should a Jewish Philosopher Read the Bible? Hermann Cohen’s Problem with Spinoza

Nov 28, 2022 By Shira Billet | Public Event video | Video Lecture

When the famous German Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen died in 1918, he was described in Jewish periodicals as “the greatest philosopher the Jews have produced since Spinoza.” But in 1915, at a time when Jews had reclaimed the 17th-century philosopher as their own, Hermann Cohen had argued that the herem (ban) on Spinoza had been justified. Cohen’s reasons for banning Spinoza were different from those articulated in the original ban. He agreed with Spinoza far more than we might expect, but he also thought Spinoza’s book on the Bible was misleading and dangerous. Cohen disagreed with central parts of Spinoza’s method of reading the Bible, and for Cohen, the stakes of getting the method right were very high with academic, religious, and political implications.

Two Nations in Your Belly

Nov 25, 2022 By Burton L. Visotzky | Commentary | Toledot

In the world of the ancient Rabbis who gave us Judaism—the world of the Talmud and the Midrash, from the first century through the seventh century CE—our Rabbis identified Esau / Edom with the Roman Empire. In doing so, they took on both aspects of that Empire—the earlier pagan Roman Empire and the later Christian Roman Empire, and conflated them into one image of Esau, forever at odds with Jacob / Israel. For the Rabbis, Esau most often was depicted as the enemy, our oppressor, “The Man” who kept us beneath his boot.

Intra-Jewish Censorship: The Case of Spinoza

Nov 21, 2022 By Jonathan Ray | Public Event video | Video Lecture

In July 1656, Baruch Spinoza was excommunicated from the Jewish community of Amsterdam for his “abominable heresies” and “monstrous deeds.” He was 23 years old. This class explore some of the key writings of Spinoza, as well as the social and political context of 17th-century Holland to try to understand the reasons behind Spinoza’s harsh, and historic, banishment.   

Rebecca the Patriarch

Nov 18, 2022 By Judith Hauptman | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah

This week’s parashah, Hayyei Sarah (Genesis 23:1–25:18), is about continuing the line, producing progeny. The parashah opens with a report of Sarah’s death at 120 years old. It closes with a list of Abraham’s children from concubines and Ishmael’s many offspring (25:1–18). But the central story of the parashah, the entire chapter of Genesis 24, is about finding a wife for Isaac.

The Danger of Spreading the Word: Book Censorship in 16th-Century Venice

Nov 14, 2022 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

In the 16th century, as the new technology of the printing press hit its stride, the church began to realize the danger that the dissemination of knowledge could represent. Instituting a regime of censorship in Venice (the center of the print industry) and elsewhere, all new books—Christian and Jewish—had to pass muster before appearing. But the church was not alone in this effort. Rabbinic authorities recognized the same dangers, and they too sought to outlaw certain “dangerous” books. 

Between the Lines: Choosing Hope

Nov 14, 2022 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

Throughout our history, Jews have traditionally responded to our trials with hope, psychologist David Arnow says, because we have had ready access to Judaism’s abundant reservoir of hope. The first book to explore the depths of this reservoir, Choosing Hope journeys from biblical times to our day to explore nine fundamental sources of hope in Judaism.

Women of Faith

Nov 11, 2022 By Amy Kalmanofsky | Commentary | Vayera

Abraham passed God’s litmus test of faith. God commands Abraham to take his beloved son Isaac to the land of Moriah and kill him. Faithful Abraham does not hesitate. Genesis 22 may be the most loved and hated story in the Torah by every reader, no matter what their faith. Certainly, generations of Jews have struggled to make sense of this story, and of the father and God it portrays.

Persecuting Ideas: The Case of Maimonides

Nov 7, 2022 By Alan Mittleman | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Maimonides, the greatest Jewish figure of the Middle Ages, incorporated philosophy into his work. Both during his lifetime and afterwards, especially in Europe, Maimonides’ embrace of philosophy aroused opposition. A great controversy, lasting more than a century after his death, broke out in four distinct waves. The most philosophical sections of his work were banned, as was the study of philosophy and teaching of it to youth.

Learning as a Lifelong Experience

Nov 4, 2022 By Edward L. Greenstein | Commentary | Lekh Lekha

An attentive reading of the Torah and of Parashat Lekh Lekha in particular leads to a very different understanding. Abraham was a learner—he needed to grow in his trust of the Deity, and in himself. In this sense, Abraham’s career models the path of a lifelong learner.

In a Human Voice: In Conversation with Psychologist Carol Gilligan

Nov 3, 2022 By The Center for Pastoral Education | Public Event video

Psychologist Carol Gilligan revolutionized her field’s understanding of gender with her 1982 book, In A Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Her work in the field focused on the human voice and inspired and informed a feminist-oriented movement in philosophical ethics known as the ethics of care.

Rabbi Naomi Kalish is be in conversation with Professor Gilligan. The two talk about her background, reflect on the influence of her Jewish upbringing, and discuss her groundbreaking work and its implications for today, forty years later.

(Not So) Hidden Anti-Gospels: Suppressed Talmudic and Medieval Polemics Against Jesus

Oct 31, 2022 By Eliezer B. Diamond | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Jews always viewed Jesus as one of their own, and they felt the need to account for the power he had in converting millions to a new religion that they viewed as a perverse usurpation of their own. They responded by writing parodic versions of the Gospels narratives, which are found both in the Talmud and in an early medieval work called Toledot Yeshu (The Jesus Chronicle). Eventually Christians became aware of these “anti-Gospels” and Jews had to engage in both self-censorship and apologetics. We will look at these texts and their history, concluding with a look at a very different approach to Jesus in the 20th century by Rabbi Stephen Wise.

After the Flood

Oct 28, 2022 By Alisa Braun | Commentary | Noah

Today it’s common to find divrei torah that use Parashat Noah to raise awareness about our impact on the environment. Yet I recently discovered a voice from the first stirrings of modernity that seemed to already intuit, within a theological framework, the devastating impact of humans on the global environment. For Obadiah Sforno (1475–1550), the “lawlessness” during the days of Noah did not just cause God to flood to earth. It was a force capable of ruining the climate and planet, and thereby shaping the course of human history ever after.

Between the Lines: Inside Jewish Day Schools

Oct 27, 2022 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

Part of Between the Lines: Author Conversations from The Library of JTS Dr. Jack Wertheimer, professor of American Jewish history at JTS, co-authored with Alex Pomson the new book Inside Jewish Day Schools: Leadership, Learning, and Community, which seeks to demystify Jewish day schools. His book talk addresses a number of questions: What revolutionary changes characterize current […]

Written in Stone? Writing and Rewriting the Bible

Oct 24, 2022 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Examine the way biblical scribes updated texts, sometimes replaced (and thus in a way censored) the older text, but sometimes kept the older text intact even as they added to it. In several cases, a text was updated with the intention of replacing the older one, but then the canon of the Bible ended up including the older version as well as the newer one.

The World of Creation in Each of Us

Oct 21, 2022 By Israel Gordan | Commentary | Bereishit

One of the most well-known, and controversial, passages in the Torah comes after God creates man and woman: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea the birds of the sky, and all living things that creep on earth’” (Gen. 1:28).