So Close to Me
Sep 30, 2016 By Bronwen Mullin | Commentary | Nitzavim
Read MoreYou say it’s in my heart
Like my heart is less a mystery than the great expanse of heaven
You say it’s in my heart
Like my heart is less a threatening thing than the deepest darkest ocean
![Aphrodite and the Rabbis](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/BV-headshot-228x300.jpg)
Aphrodite and the Rabbis
Sep 27, 2016 By Burton L. Visotzky | Public Event audio
Judaism as we know it is a western Roman religion, argues Rabbi Burton Visotzky. Yes, the very empire that destroyed the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE served as the culture in which Judaism was nurtured and became the religion of the rabbis that we still celebrate today.
Read More![Seeking Forgiveness for Structural Injustice](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/stephanie_ruskay.jpg)
Seeking Forgiveness for Structural Injustice
Sep 26, 2016 By Stephanie Ruskay | Short Video | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
Forgiving and Asking Forgiveness: Sound Bytes for the High Holidays 5777
Read More![Teshuvah in Two Directions](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/david_kraemer-300x300.jpg)
Teshuvah in Two Directions
Sep 26, 2016 By David C. Kraemer | Short Video | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
Forgiving and Asking Forgiveness: Sound Bytes for the High Holidays 5777
Read More![A Heart of Compassion and Forgiveness](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/eitan_fishbane-300x300.jpg)
A Heart of Compassion and Forgiveness
Sep 26, 2016 By Eitan Fishbane | Short Video | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
Forgiving and Asking Forgiveness: Sound Bytes for the High Holidays 5777
Read More![Return Us to You](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/mychal_springer_sq_2-300x300.jpg)
Return Us to You
Sep 26, 2016 By Mychal Springer | Short Video | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
Forgiving and Asking Forgiveness: Sound Bytes for the High Holidays 5777
Read More![Asking Forgiveness with Authenticity](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/headshotpaularose-300x300.jpg)
Asking Forgiveness with Authenticity
Sep 26, 2016 By Paula Rose | Short Video | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
Forgiving and Asking Forgiveness: Sound Bytes for the High Holidays 5777
Read More![Forgiving Ourselves](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/anne_lapidus_lerner-300x300.jpg)
Forgiving Ourselves
Sep 26, 2016 By Anne Lapidus Lerner | Short Video | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
Forgiving and Asking Forgiveness: Sound Bytes for the High Holidays 5777
Read More![Getting to ‘Sorry’](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/shira_epstein_1000_sq-300x300.jpg)
Getting to ‘Sorry’
Sep 26, 2016 By Shira D. Epstein | Short Video | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
Forgiving and Asking Forgiveness: Sound Bytes for the High Holidays 5777
Read More![Everyone on the Team](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rabbi_scheff-300x300.jpg)
Everyone on the Team
Sep 23, 2016 By Craig Scheff | Commentary | Ki Tavo
Everyone on the team, from the manager to the coach, from a secretary to an owner, has a role to fulfill. That role is valuable if the team is to come close to reaching its potential. The leader must understand this. Every single member of your team needs to feel wanted and appreciated. If they are on the team, they deserve to be valued and to feel valued. Do you want someone on the team who doesn’t feel necessary and appreciated? How do they find out unless you let them know?
Read More—John Wooden and Steve Jamison, Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court
![What It Means to Enjoy](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/alan_cooper-300x300.jpg)
What It Means to Enjoy
Sep 23, 2016 By Alan Cooper | Commentary | Ki Tavo
At one of our Shabbat afternoon Talmud classes some 50 years ago, after the usual bout of eating, drinking, and singing, the topic under discussion was what it means to “enjoy” Shabbat and Yom Tov (Sabbath and Festivals). We discussed Rabbi Eliezer’s statement that Festival “rejoicing” is obligatory, as well as the two alternative ways he proffers for attaining pleasure: either by eating and drinking or by sitting and studying. Rabbi Joshua interjects that it should be half of one and half of the other (BT Pesahim 68b).
Read More![The Blessing of Assimilation—Then and Now](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/arnie_eisen-300x300.jpg)
The Blessing of Assimilation—Then and Now
Sep 20, 2016 By Arnold M. Eisen | Public Event video
Current JTS Chancellor Arnold M. Eisen revisits former JTS Chancellor Gerson D. Cohen’s landmark 1966 essay “The Blessing of Assimilation in Jewish History.” Chancellor Eisen discusses how the issues raised by Chancellor Cohen half a century ago continue to engage and challenge us today.
Read More![Why Do We Need a Reminder to Remember?](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/eisenstat3-300x300.jpg)
Why Do We Need a Reminder to Remember?
Sep 16, 2016 By Yedida Eisenstat | Commentary | Ki Tetzei
When was the last time you memorized a phone number? In the age of Gmail, iPhones, and Facebook, remembering has become a passive activity. But at the end of this week’s parashah, the Torah commands us to actively “remember what Amalek did to you… do not forget.” But what did Moses command Israel to remember and why?
Read More![Promises, Promises](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/magen.jpg)
Promises, Promises
Sep 16, 2016 By Cheryl Magen | Commentary | Ki Tetzei
Oh, promises, their kind of promises, can just destroy a life
Oh, promises, those kind of promises, take all the joy from life
Oh, promises, promises, my kind of promises
Can lead to joy and hope and love
Yes, love!
Read More—“Promises, Promises” (from the 1968 musical of the same name), lyrics by Hal David
![Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/jtslogo_pms173___high_res_square-1-300x300.jpg)
Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food
Sep 14, 2016 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio
Kosher USA follows the fascinating journey of kosher food through the modern industrial food system. It recounts how iconic products such as Coca-Cola and Jell-O tried to become kosher; the contentious debates among rabbis over the incorporation of modern science into Jewish law; how Manischewitz wine became the first kosher product to win over non-Jewish consumers; and more.
![Corruption Begins at Home](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/hillel_gruenberg_900_sq-300x300.jpg)
Corruption Begins at Home
Sep 9, 2016 By Hillel Gruenberg | Commentary | Shofetim
Only here are three prime ministers
investigated and don’t cooperate.
Read MoreOnly here do I feel belonging,
Even though I’m angry about the corruption.
![Our Eyes Did Not See](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/eliezer_diamond-300x300.jpg)
Our Eyes Did Not See
Sep 9, 2016 By Eliezer B. Diamond | Commentary | Shofetim
The history of murder begins with Cain’s slaying of Abel. That murder itself has a prehistory. When Adam and Eve ate forbidden fruit, God called them to account, and gave them the opportunity to acknowledge their sin and seek forgiveness. Instead, they chose obfuscation and recrimination. Adam shifted blame to Eve, who in turn argued that the serpent was culpable. As when they ate the fruit (Gen. 3:7), their eyes again were opened; each now saw that the other was capable of sin without remorse, and indifference born of self-interest.
Read More![Petition or Protest](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/azm_square-300x300.jpg)
Petition or Protest
Sep 2, 2016 By Adam Zagoria-Moffet | Commentary | Re'eh
One month from now, we turn to renew the Hebrew calendar, and our spiritual lives with it. On that day, “the day the world is born,” we read the story of Hannah (1 Sam 1:1–2:10). After struggling for years to conceive, Hannah finally gives birth to a son, Shemuel, for whom she had prayed at the temple in Shiloh.
Read More![Dwelling with God](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/jtslogo_pms173___high_res_square-300x300.png)
Dwelling with God
Sep 2, 2016 By JTS Alumni | Commentary | Re'eh
By Sonia Gordon Walinsky (LC ’04) and Nina Gordon
From Rosh Hodesh Elul, this shabbat, until the end of the holiday season, Psalm 27 is recited in the daily morning and evening services. It reflects a yearning for closeness with God fitting for the time of year when we seek to make teshuvah—literally, returning to God.
Read More![Love the Stranger](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/rabbi_ethan_linden.jpg)
Love the Stranger
Aug 26, 2016 By Ethan Linden | Commentary | Eikev
In our parashah this week we find an odd statement masquerading as banal—a revolutionary idea that at first glance seems familiar, but is something else entirely. In Deuteronomy 10:19 the Torah commands: “Ve-ahavtem et hager ki gerim hayitem be-eretz mitzrayim” (“Love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt”).
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