JTS Torah Archive

Wisdom of the Heart

Feb 19, 2014 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayak-hel

In many ways, Parashat Vayak-hel repeats the instruction of previous parashiyot.

The Future of Judaism and Islam on American Campuses

Feb 18, 2014 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

Judaism and Islam have quite a bit in common, so how can these two religions learn from each other, especially in the collegiate setting? This topic is discussed in this Annual John Paul II Center Lecture, including panelists Imam Abdullah Antepli of Duke University, Rabbi Gail Swedroe of the University of Florida Hillel, and Professor Mehnaz Afridi of Manhattan College, and moderated by Huffington Post Executive Religion Editor Rev. Paul Raushenbush.

Moses As Prophetic Psychologist

Feb 12, 2014 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Ki Tissa

The notorious centerpiece of Parashat Ki Tissa is the episode of the Golden Calf.

Arts and Crafts: Commentary on Parashat Ki Tissa

Feb 11, 2014 By Alan Cooper | Commentary | Ki Tissa

There are aspects of the Bible’s account of the construction of the Tabernacle in the wilderness that seem incredible; so much so that early critical commentators tended to reject its historical accuracy out of hand.

On Doubt and Prayer (Part 3)

Feb 11, 2014 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

The droughts experienced recently in California and Israel became so severe that religious leaders of many faith traditions called for special prayers for rain. In the context of the history of Jewish liturgy, this is especially resonant, for much of our earliest data about rabbinic liturgy is based upon the detailed description of prayers for rain in the Mishnah (see Mishnah Ta’anit chapters 1 and 2, and extensive discussion in the Gemara). However, prayers for rain, especially in modernity, also bring us immediately into some of the most challenging contemporary reflections about prayer and ritual: “Does it work?!” Even though meteorology is far from an exact science, I suspect that there are few (if any) climate scientists who would include ritual gatherings, no matter how sincere, among the variables that determine the likelihood of rain.

Patient Autonomy in the Dying Process: A Jewish Perspective

Feb 10, 2014

This lecture explores Rabbi Moses Feinstein’s approach to establishing an appropriate balance between the strong Jewish legal mandate to preserve life and the value of maximizing patient autonomy. Rabbi Feinstein’s biblical and talmudic sources, as well as the philosophical and ethical implications of his theory for end-of-life issues in Jewish and comparative law, were discussed.

Dreamland of Humanists: Warburg, Cassirer, Panofsky, and the Hamburg School

Feb 10, 2014 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

The recent discovery of a new trove of Nazi-looted art in Germany has awakened us to the world of culture and ideas that was lost when Hitler came to power. Dreamland of Humanists: Warburg, Cassirer, Panofsky, and the Hamburg School tells the forgotten story of Hamburg’s emergence as a center of that early 20th-century intellectual world.

The Eternal Light of Torah

Feb 5, 2014 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Tetzavveh

At the beginning of Parashat Tetzavveh, Moses is commanded to instruct the Israelites:

bring clear oil of beaten olives for lighting, for kindling lamps regularly. Aaron and his sons will set them up in the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain which is over the Ark, to burn from evening to morning before the Lord. It will be a statute for the Israelites throughout all time, throughout the ages” (Exod. 27:20–21).

A Dress Code for Judaism

Feb 4, 2014 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Tetzavveh

I received a valuable insight into this week’s Torah portion over lunch one day about 20 years ago at the Stanford University Humanities Center. Across the table sat a female professor from China, newly arrived on her first visit to America. I was the first Jew she had ever met, and at some point the conversation shifted from the books we were writing to how Judaism differed from other faith traditions and communities in America. That’s when she startled me with an observation I shall never forget. “You can’t be significantly different from anyone else in this country. You are dressed exactly the same as they are.”

Memory and Covenant

Feb 3, 2014 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

Memory and Covenant: The Role of Israel’s and God’s Memory in Sustaining the Deuteronomic and Priestly Covenants combines a close reading of texts in the Deuteronomic, Priestly, and Holiness traditions with analysis of ritual and scrutiny of the different terminology regarding memory that is used in each tradition.

Questions with Answers and Questions Without Answers: Science and Religion

Jan 29, 2014

Dr. Alan Lightman and Rabbi Jack Moline discuss both how science and religion conflict, and how they can sometimes work harmoniously.

Gospel of Freedom

Jan 29, 2014 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

Dr. Jonathan Rieder delves deeper than anyone before into Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” illuminating both its timeless message and crucial position in the history of civil rights.

Terumah – The Gift That Elevates

Jan 29, 2014 By Eitan Fishbane | Commentary | Terumah

Sometimes we all feel like we’re giving more than we get, that we do more than our share, or that our individual needs are being sacrificed for the sake of someone else’s happiness.

The Tabernacle: Divinity and Practicality

Jan 29, 2014 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Terumah

Parashat Terumah opens dramatically with a building campaign.

On Doubt and Prayer (Part 2)

Jan 29, 2014 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

Dan Savage offers a reflection on prayer that is both humorous and poignant, noting that, as a self-identified “lapsed Catholic,” he prays only when he feels his life is in danger (in planes and when driving with his partner), and then never follows up, making him “not only an ingrate, but also a hypocrite” (see full video). Perhaps this is an updated version of the old adage, “There are no atheists in foxholes.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence

Jan 23, 2014

Rabbi Shai Held discusses his book about Abraham Joshua Heschel with JTS Chancellor Arnold Eisen.

Defining a Moral and Just Society

Jan 22, 2014 By Judith Hauptman | Commentary | Mishpatim

Sometimes an article in the newspaper reminds you of something in the Torah and makes you think in new ways about verses you have read many times before.

Building Bridges

Jan 22, 2014 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Mishpatim

After legislating the multiplicity of laws in what has become known as Sefer Ha-Brit, the “Book of the Covenant,” Parashat Mishpatim concludes on a pessimistic note—a warning to the Israelites.

On Doubt (Part 1)

Jan 22, 2014 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

There are many texts found in the siddur that are not easily planted in our mouths, minds, hearts, and souls. For example, how might a person say with integrity, “My God, the soul You have given me is pure” (Siddur Sim Shalom for Weekdays, 4), while intellectually struggling with the existence of soul, and beset by uncertainty about the presence of God in the world?

Exodus 18: The Proverbial Visit of the In-Laws

Jan 15, 2014 By Robert Harris | Commentary | Yitro

“Come and listen to my story ’bout a man named . . . Jethro!”