JTS Torah Archive

Movies and Midrash

Dec 4, 2018 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

Dr. Wendy Zierler’s Movies and Midrash pioneers the use of cinema as a springboard to discuss central Jewish texts and matters of belief. 

Judah and Tamar: Writing the Story

Nov 30, 2018 By Judith Hauptman | Commentary | Vayeshev

One of the most gripping stories in the entire Bible appears in this week’s parashah. Chapter 38, a self-contained unit, interrupts the ongoing Joseph saga to tell the story of Judah and Tamar.

The Art of Mystical Narrative: A Zohar Symposium

Nov 27, 2018 By Eitan Fishbane | Public Event video

In The Art of Mystical Narrative: A Poetics of the Zohar, Dr. Eitan Fishbane reveals the Zohar as an extraordinary narrative—the tale of a wandering kabbalist sage seeking wisdom in ancient Galilee. Along with experts in Kabbalah, medieval Jewish culture, and Jewish literature, he discusses the narrative and poetic features of the Zohar in the context of comparative literature and spirituality.

The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective

Nov 20, 2018 By Joy Ladin | Public Event audio

Reading some of the best-known Torah stories through the lens of transgender experience, Joy Ladin explores fundamental questions about how religious texts, traditions, and the understanding of God can be enriched by transgender perspectives, and how the Torah and trans lives can illuminate one another.

The Changing Face of the American Jewish Family

Nov 19, 2018 By Leonard A. Sharzer

Co-published by the Louis Finkelstein Inistitute for Religious and Social Studies and JTS Press, and edited by Rabbi Leonard Sharzer and Rabbi Burton Visotzky.

In the American Jewish community of the 21st century, as in the broader American community, the meaning of being a family is changing, often at a pace that communal institutions have difficulty keeping up with. 

Why Religion?

Nov 16, 2018 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Vayetzei

Big picture: What is religion trying to do in the world?

Maimonides claims that the aim of Torah is the creation of lives and communities that manifest “mercy, loving-kindness, and peace” (The Laws of Shabbat, 2:3). All of the commandments, the entirety of our wisdom tradition, seeks to create people who—through their actions—bring more love, sensitivity, and peace into the world.

JTS Jewish Educators Convocation 2018

Nov 12, 2018

Two Nations Struggling in the Womb

Nov 9, 2018 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Toledot

The map of the United States is divided almost equally between red and blue as I write this column on the morning after the 2018 midterm elections. The Republicans have increased their majority in the Senate, and lost their majority in the House. Many races were too close to call far into the evening, and were decided in the end by the narrowest of margins—even as the two major parties and their supporters apparently stand farther apart from one another than at any time in recent memory. The results confirm the widespread view that Americans have rarely been less united.

Rare Treasures of the JTS Library

Nov 8, 2018 By David C. Kraemer

Falling Wisely

Nov 2, 2018 By Sarah Wolf | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah

Hayyei Sarah offers us a scene straight out of a romantic comedy. By the middle of the parashah, Rebekah has agreed to follow Abraham’s servant back to Canaan, where she will meet and marry Isaac. Rebekah and the servant near their destination on camelback as the afternoon draws to a close, and Isaac is wandering in the fields. The mood is set for an elegant and romantic first meeting.

Reimagining End-of-Life Care: A Multi-Faith Exploration

Nov 1, 2018 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

The Legacy of Sodom

Oct 26, 2018 By Steven Philp | Commentary | Vayera

Following the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra, Lot and his two daughters flee to the mountains above Zoar. They are stricken with fear, having witnessed the devastation of the two cities. They grieve the dead, a vast number that includes Lot’s wife, the mother of the two women, who—having paused to look back toward Sodom—was turned into a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:23–26). It is necessary to understand the emotional frame within which they are operating, as it underlies the following narrative.

Cantillation for High Holidays

Oct 23, 2018 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Prayer Recordings | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

Recordings by Cantor Sarah Levine (CS ’17). EXPLORE MORE HIGH HOLIDAY CONTENT

Cantillation for Haftarah

Oct 23, 2018 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Prayer Recordings

Recordings by Cantor Sarah Levine (CS ’17).

Cantillation for Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, and Ruth

Oct 23, 2018 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Prayer Recordings | Pesah | Shavuot | Sukkot

Recordings by Cantor Sarah Levine (CS ’17).

Cantillation for Lamentations

Oct 23, 2018 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Prayer Recordings | Tishah Be'av

Recordings by Cantor Sarah Levine (CS ’17).

Cantillation for Megillat Esther

Oct 22, 2018 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Prayer Recordings | Purim

Recordings by Cantor Sarah Levine (CS ’17). Cantillation for Megillat Esther – Trop Symbols

Abram the Hebrew

Oct 19, 2018 By Jonathan Sarna | Commentary | Lekh Lekha

“I believe we have not yet appointed a Hebrew,” President Abraham Lincoln wrote on November 4, 1862, to his secretary of war, Edwin M. Stanton, amidst the Civil War. Partly to rectify that imbalance, he agreed to appoint Cheme (Cherie) Moise Levy, the son-in-law of Rabbi Morris J. Raphall of New York’s Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, to be an assistant quarter-master with the rank of captain. This may have been the first example of “affirmative action” in all of American Jewish history.

Cancer Risks: The BRCA Genes and What the Jewish Community Needs to Know

Oct 18, 2018 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

Leading genetics researcher Dr. Kenneth Offit and premier radiologist Dr. Miriam Levy discuss risks of cancers affecting the Jewish community and new options for genetic testing and medical management. Writer Letty Cottin Pogrebin and Dr. Michael Bergstein speak about their personal experiences of breast and prostate cancer.

Basic Questions

Oct 12, 2018 By Shira D. Epstein | Commentary | Noah

Early in my teaching career I worked with kindergarteners, incorporating drama into daily Judaics lessons. The holiday cycle offered developmentally appropriate treasure troves of life lessons: practicing ways to say “I’m sorry” to loved ones during Tishrei; exploring Esther’s mustering of courage to speak the truth; hesitations of the Israelites to part from predictable routines in the known and familiar Egypt to try something brand-new and strange.