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The Importance of Being Humble
May 24, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Beha'alotekha
An unfortunate incident mars the otherwise solid familial bond between Moses and his siblings in Parashat Beha’alotekha.
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New Generation, Old Leaders
May 24, 2013 By Ute Steyer | Commentary | Beha'alotekha
To paraphrase Moses’s meltdown in Numbers 11:11–15, “Lord! I’m so done with them! I can’t take it anymore. These people are nothing but a bunch of whinging losers.” Yet the People are doing what they have been doing since day one of the Exodus: complaining. About the lack of water, the lack of food, and now the lack of meat. So why is Moses losing his temper so completely this time?
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Shavu’ot—Hide and Seek with Torah
May 14, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Shavuot
In the kiddush we recite this evening, and in all the traditional services of Shavu’ot, we speak of “chag haShavuot hazeh, z’man mattan Torateinu” (This Festival of Shavu’ot, season of the giving of our Torah. [Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals, 42]). There is a subtle yet subversive element to this description of the day: the parallels for Pesah and Sukkot speak of the “season of our liberation” and “season of our rejoicing,” each of which can reasonably be derived from biblical sources; however, there is no biblical source that associates Shavu’ot with the giving of the Torah at Sinai. Shavu’ot is called chag haKatsir in association with the harvest (Exod. 23:16), and the name Shavu’ot derives from the 49 days of counting the Omer after Pesah; the Talmud (BT Pesachim 68b) even uses the term Atzeret (conclusion), seeing the day as “concluding” Pesah much as Shemini Atzeret serves as conclusion to Sukkot.
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The Importance of What We Give
May 14, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Naso
At the heart of Parashat Naso is a repetitive description of the offerings brought by the leaders of each of the tribes in honor of the anointing of the altar.
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Going to the Head of the Prayer Line
May 14, 2013 By Joel Alter | Commentary | Naso
Sharp elbows at shul extend beyond the kiddush table line and back into the sanctuary. Prayer—or giving honor to God—can be a competitive business. There are lots of reasons why this is so, and some of them even have to do with loving God. But showing off how we love God can get us into trouble.
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How Do You Measure a Year?
May 8, 2013 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Bemidbar | Shavuot
We are doing an awful lot of counting this week: we count the final days of the Omer, and, as our parashah begins, take the census of the Israelite community. What does all of this counting have to do with the ways in which we measure what really matters?
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Torah—Vision Beyond the Text (Part 2)
May 8, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Let us continue exploring, in these weeks before Shavu’ot, the metaphors of Torah in our liturgy. In the blessing immediately before the Shema’ in the morning service, we say “give light to our eyes through Your Torah” (ha’er eyneynu beToratekha) [Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat, 111], drawing upon the metaphor from the book of Proverbs that “Torah is light” (6:23). This connection of Torah (teaching) and light draws on a theme—common to many religions—that labels the attainment of ultimate understanding or a close or profound encounter with the Divine as “enlightenment.”
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A Slow Walk to Freedom
May 8, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Bemidbar
With this coming Shabbat, we begin the fourth book of Torah known as the book of Numbers or Bemidbar.
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Yom Yerushalayim—Inhabiting the Land
May 1, 2013 By Burton L. Visotzky | Commentary | Behar | Behukkotai | Yom Yerushalayim
Our double Torah portion opens with God’s command to Moses to tell the Israelites, “When you come to the land that I am giving you, and you inhabit the land.” No sooner did I read this verse as I prepared to write these words of Torah, than my own counting of the days flashed back 46 years to my first time ever in Israel, when I was a teenager on Camp Ramah Israel Seminar.
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Torah—Vision Beyond the Text (Part 1)
May 1, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
In these weeks leading to the festival of Shavu’ot, designated by the Rabbis as Z’man matan Torateinu (Season of the Giving of Torah), let us look at the way that Torah appears in our liturgy. Torah refers, of course, to the humash—the Five Books of Moses—but the siddur makes clear that it is much more than that. In the preliminary service, the blessings for the study of Torah (Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals, 63) are followed by verses from the humash, and these verses are followed immediately by selections from the Mishnah and Gemara, thus making it clear that these texts are Torah as well. The writings of the Sages (even to the present day) are not seen merely as commentary or amplification of Torah—rabbinic writings are also Torah, the “Oral” Torah.
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The Promise of Security
May 1, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Behar | Behukkotai
Parashat Behukkotai opens with a dramatic quid pro quo.
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Following Boston, Prayers for Healing
Apr 23, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Once more murderous acts have literally blasted their way into our hearts and souls. Images from the bombs in Boston are seared into our minds and memories, and these depictions challenge us. Our faith in humanity is challenged no less than our faith in God.
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Uncertainty and the Omer
Apr 23, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Emor
As we journey through these days and weeks, we find ourselves in the midst of Sefirat Omer, the counting of the Omer (the sheaf of barley offering, a ritual that took place in Temple times).
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The Spirit of Jewish Leadership
Apr 23, 2013 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Emor
Two themes in this week’s Torah portion strike me with particular urgency and force: how Israelites should mourn the dead, and the qualifications required for the priesthood.
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Israel: Memory and Dreams (Part 2)
Apr 17, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Yom Hazikaron-Yom Ha'atzma'ut
Following the transition from the pain-filled memories of Yom Hazikkaron (State of Israel Memorial Day) to Yom Ha’atzma’ut (State of Israel Independence Day), it is fitting to look closely at the prayer recited in so many synagogues (of all denominations) around the world: Tefillah l’Shalom HaMedinah (the Prayer for the State of Israel). There is a “legend” that the text was composed by Israeli Nobel laureate Shmuel Yosef Agnon, but in fact the text was composed by Israel’s Chief Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog (1936–1949), and a critically important phrase was added by Agnon in a handwritten note.
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Embracing Life in the Face of Death
Apr 17, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim | Yom Hazikaron-Yom Ha'atzma'ut
This past week, we commemorated State of Israel Memorial Day (Yom Hazikkaron) and State of Israel Independence Day (Yom Ha’atzma’ut). The juxtaposition of these two observances is jarring. Living in Israel, one feels how mourning permeates every moment of Yom Hazikkaron: from the piercing siren that sounds around the entire country at 8:00 p.m. to the mournful songs played on Israeli radio; from the Yizkor (memorial service) stickers with the Israeli plant known as dam hamakabim (the blood of the Maccabees) to the throngs of Israeli citizens flooding Mount Herzl Cemetery. At the close of this sobering day, transition ceremonies give way to the festivities of Yom Ha’azma’ut: fireworks decorate the night sky and festive barbeques fill the landscape of every square meter of Israeli parks.
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Getting Out of Your Own Way
Apr 16, 2013 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim
“You shall not . . . place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your God. I am the Lord.” Taken literally, this is a verse about respecting the disabled. Taken figuratively—as the Rabbis give us ample precedent and license to do—it is about all of us.
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Land, Language, and Leprosy
Apr 10, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Metzora | Tazria
The second of this week’s parashiyot, Metzora, is an enigma on so many levels.
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Israel: Memory and Dreams (Part 1)
Apr 10, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Yom Hazikaron-Yom Ha'atzma'ut
Yom Ha’atzma’ut, State of Israel Independence Day, is observed on Tuesday, April 16. It is not only a political and national celebration for the citizens of Israel and their supporters around the world, it is also a festival of the Jewish calendar. The Psalms of Hallel are recited, there is a special Torah reading, and there is an additional paragraph in the ‘Amidah of the Conservative Movement, in a style similar to Hanukkah and Purim (see the Rabbinical Assembly’s Siddur Sim Shalom for Weekdays, 42, 50, 343). So this day is not simply the Israeli equivalent of July 4—it is rooted, as is the State of Israel, in the ancient Jewish dream for the perfection of the world.
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The Torah’s Prescription for Healing
Apr 9, 2013 By Alan Cooper | Commentary | Metzora | Tazria
At a glance, the opening chapters of Parashat Metzora seem like a biblical antecedent of WebMD. Leviticus 13 describes the disfiguring symptoms of צרעת/tzara`at, starting with “a swelling, a rash, or a discoloration” that “develops into a scaly affection” (Lev. 13:1).
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