![Torah Commentary](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/themes/jts/dist/img/logo_red_bush.jpeg)
Yom Kippur Torah Reading
By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Collected Resources | Aharei Mot | Yom Kippur
The Yom Kippur Torah portion is taken from Aharei Mot. In the morning service, the reading (Leviticus 16:1-34) describes the priestly duties on Yom Kippur and the ritual of the scapegoat. While the afternoon (18:1-30) describes forbidden relationships and marriages. The Haftarah in the morning is from Isaiah 57:14-58:14 and highlights themes of repentance and fasting. During mincha, the book of Jonah is read.
Read MoreThe Laws of Hanukkah
By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Collected Resources | Hanukkah
Celebrating Hanukkah means publicizing the miracle–these JTS sources offer guidance in fulfilling the halakha for this holiday.
Read More![Human or Divine?](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/themes/jts/dist/img/logo_red_bush.jpeg)
Human or Divine?
God is never mentioned in the Megillat Esther. These reflections explore the interplay between the human and the divine in the Purim story and beyond. The Whimsy, Confusion, and Hope of Purim (Chancellor Emeritus Arnold Eisen) Finding God in the Purim story and world events God Helps Those Who Help Themselves (Dr. Raymond Scheindlin): “the main […]
Read More![The Dynamics of Change](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/jtslogo_pms173___high_res_square-300x300.jpg)
The Dynamics of Change
By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video | Video Lecture
Change is an integral part of life and a central feature of the Jewish experience. Join JTS scholars for an in-depth exploration of significant changes—religious, political, and personal—throughout Jewish history and life. Together we’ll consider core questions such as: What inspires change? What circumstances are most conducive to change, and what (or who) drives it? How do we experience change and adapt to its impact? How can Jewish values and ideas inspire us to change the world for the better?
Read More![JTS High Holiday Reader 5784](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/jtslogo_pms173___high_res_square-300x300.jpg)
JTS High Holiday Reader 5784
By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Collected Resources | Commentary | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
JTS provides extensive resources to help you reflect and focus your intentions around Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This year, we are pleased to provide a new printable reader to make your holiday experience more engaging, especially if you plan to spend many hours sitting in synagogue services. This curated collection of commentaries by JTS faculty and staff—entitled Choice and Change—offers insights into the text, liturgy, and themes of the High Holidays.
Read More![The Work of Her Hands: The Art of Lynne Avadenka and the Craft of Jewish Women Printers](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/themes/jts/dist/img/logo_red_bush.jpeg)
The Work of Her Hands: The Art of Lynne Avadenka and the Craft of Jewish Women Printers
This exhibit featured a selection of rare books printed by Jewish women from the earliest days of Hebrew publishing alongside new artwork created by American artist/printmaker Lynne Avadenka.
Read More![Passover Learning](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/themes/jts/dist/img/logo_red_bush.jpeg)
Passover Learning
Collected Video, Commentary, and more from JTS scholars to broaden the holiday of Pesah
Read More![Torah & Haftarah](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/themes/jts/dist/img/logo_red_bush.jpeg)
Torah & Haftarah
Torah Readings Shavuot Day 1 Shavuot Day 2 Haftarah Readings Shavuot Day 1 Shavuot Day 2
Read More![Nusah](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/themes/jts/dist/img/logo_red_bush.jpeg)
Nusah
Festival Nusah (Male Voice) Recordings by Rabbi and Hazzan Seth AdelsonProject coordinator: Rabbi David Freidenreich Festival Ma’ariv Festival Shaharit Festival Musaf Festival Nusah (Female Voice) Recordings by Cantor Arianne BrownProject coordinator: Rabbi David Freidenreich Festival Ma’ariv Festival Shaharit Festival Musaf
Read MoreThe December Dilemma
By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Collected Resources | Hanukkah
Despite its status as a minor festival, the celebration of Hanukkah is elevated in the United States, partially due to its proximity to Christmas. These resources focus on the seasonal challenges of fitting in and the pressure to compete with the excitement of “the most wonderful time of the year.”
Read More![The Haggadah](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/themes/jts/dist/img/logo_red_bush.jpeg)
The Haggadah
The order of the Seder is codified in the Haggadah. The text evolved over millennia, and varied regionally. The JTS Library has many illuminated and rare haggadot, including this manuscript which was found in the Cairo Geniza, marking the Seder rituals of the Jews of Palestine–note there are only two questions as opposed to four. […]
Read More![Counting the Omer](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/themes/jts/dist/img/logo_red_bush.jpeg)
Counting the Omer
Starting with the evening of the Second Seder, we count the days between Pesah and Shavuot. These fifty days can be an opportunity for personal reflection and revelation. Text Counting the Moments (Shuly Rubin Schwartz): “The celebration of Shavuot was embedded in temporal ambiguity. Jews could strive for the moment when they would commemorate receiving […]
Read More![Liturgical Resources](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/themes/jts/dist/img/logo_red_bush.jpeg)
Liturgical Resources
The primary observance connected with Purim is the reading of the Book of Esther, usually called the megilla (Scroll). Before the reading, the scroll is unrolled and folded to look like a letter of dispatch, thus further recalling the story of the great deliverance (Maimonides, Hil. Megillah 2:12). Klein, Isaac.”The Laws of Purim.” A Guide to […]
Read More![Psalm 19](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/themes/jts/dist/img/logo_red_bush.jpeg)
Psalm 19
Translation by Dr. Benjamin D. Sommer, Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages, JTS. Find more on Dr. Sommer’s thoughts on this psalm which is recited on Shavuot here. The skies recount God’s splendor the expanse above proclaims His handiwork. One day utters a word to the next, one night conveys […]
Read More![The Jews of Corfu: Between the Adriatic and the Ionian](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/jtslogo_pms173___high_res_square-1-300x300.jpg)
The Jews of Corfu: Between the Adriatic and the Ionian
By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary
This unprecedented exhibition offered a window into the rich history and culture of the little-known Jewish communities of Corfu. Columbia University and JTS, two of the world’s largest repositories of rare materials from Corfu, displayed a selection of illustrated prayer books, historical documents, celebratory poems, and elaborately decorated ketubbot telling the story of the island’s vibrant, distinct, and sometimes contentious Jewish communities. Situated on a major trade route, these communities thrived under Venetian and then Greek rule from the Middle Ages until 1944, when the Jews of Corfu were almost entirely annihilated by the Nazis.
Read More![The Rothschild Mahzor](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/themes/jts/dist/img/logo_red_bush.jpeg)
The Rothschild Mahzor
This image comes from a beautifully illuminated manuscript created in Italy in 1490. It illustrates the first mishnah in Pirkei Avot and appears under the words which translate as Moses Received. “Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets […]
Read MoreTime Capsule
By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Collected Resources | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
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.
Read More![Whose Law? Christians and Jews Rethink the Pharisees](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/themes/jts/dist/img/logo_red_bush.jpeg)
Whose Law? Christians and Jews Rethink the Pharisees
Throughout the centuries, in Christian writings and homilies, the Pharisees have been called legalistic, money-loving, self-righteous hypocrites. That definition has become a label applied to Jews in general as well as any persons or groups the speaker or writer despised. For Jews, however, the Pharisees are respected teachers of the past who are in some way the predecessors of all forms of modern Judaism.
Who were the Pharisees, really? And why does this question matter today?
![The John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Senior Recital 2024](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/themes/jts/dist/img/logo_red_bush.jpeg)
The John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Senior Recital 2024
Graduating cantorial students, Gedalia Penner-Robinson, Ingrid Barnett, David Childs, Max Silverstone, and Neal Taibel, share their talents and their vision for the 21st-century cantorate. The recitals feature a wide range of Jewish music in Hebrew, Ladino, and Yiddish, as well as hazzanut, and Israeli traditional and pop songs. Choral works, and compositions written and composed by our graduates, will also be performed. The soloists, along with guest artists, are accompanied by pianist Joyce Rosenzweig, JTS adjunct instructor, and the combined Choir of the H. L. Miller Cantorial School and the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, conducted by Hazzan Natasha Hirschhorn.
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