JTS Torah Archive

Racial Justice and Jewish Values

May 2, 2021 By Gordon Tucker

Struggling to Celebrate

Apr 30, 2021 By Naomi Kalish | Commentary | Emor

While Parashat Emor contains one of the Torah’s discussions of holidays and instructions for their observances, rabbinic literature provides guidance for their observance in the context of the complexities of the participants’ lives, even those who might be struggling to celebrate.

“It is the music that makes us the Abayudaya:” The Cantors Assembly in Uganda

Apr 29, 2021 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

In winter 2019, members and affiliates of the Cantors Assembly traveled to Uganda on a mission of solidarity, learning, and peoplehood with the Abayudaya Jewish community. Trip participants Dr. Amanda Ruppenthal Stein and Hazzan Jeremy Stein discuss the experiences by the CA mission’s participants. Part of Musical Journeys with The Library of JTS.

Like It—Or Not? The Existential Tension of Similarity and Difference

Apr 26, 2021 By Jan Uhrbach | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Foundational Jewish texts point to a series of irresolvable dilemmas or polarities at the heart of the human condition, among them the way in which each of us is both like, and unlike, all others. How does this fundamental tension manifest in our personal relationships, our collective challenges, and our religious expressions, and what wisdom does our tradition offer to help us manage, and even grow from, our differences?

The Palace of Torah Expanded: 15 Years Later

Apr 23, 2021 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim

For many modern readers, engaging with Torah presents a paradox. Biblical and rabbinic voices reaching us from the distant past are like starlight emitted millennia ago—brilliant and often shockingly current, but also artifacts from light sources that may have dimmed or even expired. This paradox can be constructive, drawing modern readers out of our own cultural assumptions, challenging us to notice wonders that we might otherwise miss. The Torah’s poetry, its stirring demands for justice, and its vast system of devotional rites prime us for faith and sanctity. And when we encounter a Torah text that rings false or hurtful, we may use that encounter to clarify our own understanding, to articulate our community’s sacred values. 

The Jewish Music of Leonard Bernstein

Apr 22, 2021 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

Hazzan David F. Tilman examines the works of Leonard Bernstein using a rich variety of musical recordings and archival photographs.

Dangerous Religious Ideas: The Deep Roots of Self-Critical Faith in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Apr 20, 2021 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

In Dangerous Religious Ideas, Rabbi Mikva argues all religious ideas are dangerous—not only those we might consider extremist, but even those that stand at the heart of faith. Because most religious traditions have always understood this peril, they have transmitted tools of self-critique as essential to their teachings.

Nonhuman Others: The Jerusalem Talmud on Animal Ethics

Apr 19, 2021

When we think of others, we often think of human others—those different from ourselves. Yet we live in a world populated by a multitude of other animals that we interact with in a variety of roles such as companions, laborers, helpers, and food.

What does the Jewish tradition tell us about how we ought to treat and behave toward these animals that fill our world? Through a close reading of a narrative in the Jerusalem Talmud, we will uncover how one may use animals as workers, or for the sake of human needs, while also treating them as subjects, noticing and caring for their sufferings. This, according to the Talmud, is the ideal ethical stance for how to behave towards nonhumans. 

The Values of a Jewish Home

Apr 16, 2021 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Metzora | Tazria | Yom Hazikaron-Yom Ha'atzma'ut

In the precious days “Before the Coronavirus Era” (B.C.E.), the parshiyot of Tazria-Metzora seemed wholly disconnected from our lives, presenting the perennial challenge of relevance (or irrelevance) to even the most talented darshan (sermonizer). How are we to connect leprous plagues attacking both body and abode to our daily lives? And to what extent does the experience of quarantine resonate with our modern reality? These are only two of the many questions that we would have posed in a pre-Covid world.

JTS Changemakers: What’s Next for Jewish Life?

Apr 15, 2021 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

A year of pandemic has upended almost every aspect of Jewish life. But it has also opened our eyes to new ways of learning, praying, gathering, and celebrating. JTS’s Rabbi Danny Nevins asks four JTS alumni, each a leading Jewish thinker and innovator: what comes next for Jewish life? How can the lessons of Covid strengthen the way we build community going forward?

Cantors, Controversy, & Compassion: Searching for God in Musical Complexity

Apr 15, 2021 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

What are the spiritual possibilities of music? Five-hundred years ago, rabbis, cantors and Jewish musicians began to explore this question in dramatic new ways. Extended niggunim, orchestras to welcome the Sabbath bride, meshorerim (musical assistants to the cantor), new Hebrew treatises on music, and the borrowing of European musical technique and style contributed to this experimental climate in the synagogues of early modern Europe. But these changes also incited concern and anger from traditionalists, who worried that musical complexity would compromise the halachic and spiritual integrity of authentic prayer.

Learning Torah from the Talmud’s Greatest Gentiles

Apr 12, 2021 By Rachel Rosenthal | Public Event video | Video Lecture

The Talmud, in Sanhedrin, says that it is forbidden for non-Jews to learn Torah. However, throughout rabbinic literature, the rabbis frequently imagine themselves engaging in dialogue about religious issues with non-Jews, be they kings or merchants. Why do the rabbis use these gentiles as repositories of Jewish wisdom and questions, and what might that tell us about how they understand their relationship to the larger world?

The Seed of the Rabbinic Revolution

Apr 9, 2021 By | Commentary | Shemini

How important is intention in Jewish law? Do I need to be mentally present when performing commandments, or is it enough to go through the motions and get it done? How often does the Torah care about what I’m thinking? For many of us the answers to these questions would seem obvious: Of course, God demands active engagement with the commandments! Why are mitzvot worth doing if I’m not going to be mindful in their performance? In reality, these answers are a product of the revolutionary interpretations of the Torah by the early rabbinic sages.

Playing for Our Lives: Terezin as a Composer’s Inspiration

Apr 8, 2021 By Gerald Cohen | Public Event video

Cantor Gerald Cohen, composer and assistant professor in the H. L. Miller Cantorial School, will speaks about his composition, Playing for Our Lives, written as a tribute to the music and musicians of the Terezin, perform the composition.

All the Horrors of War

Apr 6, 2021 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

All the Horrors of War follows Hugh Llewelyn Glyn Hughes, a high-ranking British officer, and Rachel Genuth, a Jewish teenager from the Hungarian provinces, as they navigate the final, brutal year of World War II. Their stories converge before the war’s end, in Bergen-Belsen, where Hughes finds himself responsible for an unprecedented situation: thousands of war-ravaged inmates are in need of immediate hospitalization, including Genuth.

Looking Back at Jews and the Civil Rights Movement

Apr 5, 2021

The story of how Jews were key allies to African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement is well known. But when historical narratives become conventional wisdom, it can lead to stagnation. Now, many are asking when it comes to Black-Jewish relations, where do we go from here? In this session, led by Dr. Jason Schulman, we will look back at the story of Jews and the Civil Rights Movement to explore some new directions for the study of the field and new bases for honest dialogue.

Learning from God to Anticipate the Reactions of Others

Apr 2, 2021 By Walter Herzberg | Commentary | Pesah

Why do we eat matzah on Passover? According to the instructions that God conveyed to Israel prior to the Exodus we eat matzah because we are commanded: “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread (matzot)” (Exod. 12:15). However, according to Exod. 12:39, where the narrative of the events is related, we eat matzah because the Israelites, having been driven out of Egypt, were unable to linger to allow time for the dough to rise: “And they baked unleavened cakes (matzot) . . . because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry.” If so, why does the Torah present the mitzvah (the command) before the Exodus has actually taken place? 

A Holiday of Contradictory Emotions

Mar 26, 2021 By Shuly Rubin Schwartz | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol | Pesah

Preparing to celebrate our second Pesah under the grip of a global pandemic, our hearts are filled with both sadness and hope. No one has been untouched by COVID-19. We’re grieving a loved one, friend, or neighbor whose life was cut short. We’re experiencing its social and economic toll—overtaxed first responders, teachers, and food providers; overwhelming social isolation; devastating financial insecurity—all exacerbated by underlying inequities. Thankfully, millions have received the vaccine, though many have yet to receive it, and new variants temper our expectations.

Freedom for Whom?

Mar 22, 2021 By Eliezer B. Diamond | Public Event video | Video Lecture

First and foremost, the traditional Haggadah celebrates our liberation from Egypt. At the same time, it reflects our experience of oppression over the course of many centuries. It is therefore a plea to be redeemed anew that reflects and potentially re-enforces an adversarial relationship with the non-Jewish world. In our own time the Jews of the United States and Israel enjoy unprecedented freedom. How do we honor the voice of tradition while also including the modern voices seeking liberation for all?

Standing at the Gates

Mar 19, 2021 By Eliezer B. Diamond | Commentary | Vayikra

In Kafka’s cryptic parable “Before the Law,” a man stands before a gate seeking entry into the Law. The gate is open, but at its side is a gatekeeper who refuses his request to enter. The man uses every stratagem that he can think of to gain the gatekeeper’s permission, but every attempt fails. This stalemate continues until the moment of death arrives.