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Jealousy As a Test of Virtue
Dec 14, 2007 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Vayiggash
Gifts can make you crazy. Picking them is hard, and so is accepting them with grace.
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Joseph the Righteous One
Dec 1, 2007 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Vayeshev
I have always been deeply curious as to why—of all the characters in the Torah—the Rabbis attributed to Joseph the appellation, “ha-Tzadik” (the righteous).
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Jacob’s Struggle Is Our Struggle
Nov 24, 2007 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Vayishlah
“In olden times when wishing still helped, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful, but the youngest was so beautiful that the sun itself, which was seen so much, was astonished whenever it shone in her face.”
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Blessings From a Deathbed
Nov 22, 2007 By Charles Savenor | Commentary | Vayehi
Laying on his deathbed, Jacob beckons for his grandchildren, Ephraim and Manasseh.
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Why Are We Called the People of Israel?
Nov 17, 2007 By Edward Feld | Commentary | Vayetzei
We are called not the People Abraham, nor the People Isaac, rather we are called the People Israel, named for the third of the patriarchal family, Jacob.
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Poor Isaac
Nov 7, 2007 By David M. Ackerman | Commentary | Toledot
Poor Isaac; wedged between “exemplary” Abraham and “vivid” Jacob, he exhibits very little personality of his own.
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The Wisdom of the Wilderness
Nov 3, 2007 By Lisa Gelber | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah
When I lived in Seattle, I set aside one day each summer to visit Mount Rainier National Park and hike some trails there.
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Subverting Abraham As a Knight of Faith
Oct 26, 2007 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Vayera
In a world in which so much violence and pain are caused in the name of religion, how can we read the story of “the Binding of Isaac” as anything but what Phyllis Trible would call a “text of terror”?
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Why the Jews?
Oct 21, 2007 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Noah
Why did the Creator of all humanity decide upon the surprising step of establishing a special relationship with one small segment of humanity?
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The Many Qualities of Abram
Oct 12, 2007 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Lekh Lekha
Abram in the light; Abram in the dark. Abram with men at war; Abram with women at war.
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Making Meaning From Chaos
Oct 5, 2007 By Mychal Springer | Commentary | Bereishit
The opening words of B’reishit are exhilarating. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
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Normalcy and Covenant
May 19, 2007 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Bemidbar
Numbers always stands in pointed contrast to Leviticus. The overarching order of the book of the Torah that we have just completed — the routines of sacrifice, the hierarchies of priesthood, the distinctions between purity and pollution, permitted and forbidden — all this soon gives way to B’midbar, “in the wilderness,” to challenges of a different sort. The book starts by counting the people and arranging the camp for travel. But soon, we know, all those counted will be held responsible for the spies’ rebellion. Moses’ cousin Korah will attempt insurrection. The camp will wander without hope of reaching the Promised Land. We turn from Leviticus to Numbers, aware that the real world awaits us there: the one in desperate need of sacred order. We, like the Israelites, clearly have a lot to learn,
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In the Wake of Tragedy
Apr 28, 2007 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim
In the immediate wake of tragedy, our response is appropriately silence. Aaron movingly illustrated this in the parashah from two weeks ago after he lost his sons, Nadav and Avihu. Following their shocking deaths, the Torah records Aaron’s response to Moses’ attempt at consolation simply as, “and Aaron was silent” (Leviticus 10:3). We cannot begin to imagine the sense of loss and disbelief that radiated from the depths of his soul when he learned his sons were destroyed by the God who ordained their service.
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How Do We Experience the Season of Freedom?
Apr 14, 2007 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Pesah
Freedom in biblical and rabbinic Judaism is a highly complex idea.
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“Do Not Forget.”
Apr 3, 2007 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Shabbat Zakhor | Tetzavveh | Purim
“It is evident that we live in an age of violence and terror. There is not a continent on the globe that is not despoiled by terror and violence, by barbarism and by a growing callousness to human suffering.”
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Redemption: Israel’s Partnership with God
Mar 31, 2007 By Eliezer B. Diamond | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol
The first teaching attributed to Hillel in Tractate Avot is the following: “Be one of Aaron’s disciples, one who loves peace and pursues it, one who loves one’s fellow human beings and brings them near to the Torah.”
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Sacrifice in Middle Age
Mar 24, 2007 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Vayikra
It took middle age to bring me to appreciation of Leviticus — that, and the work of biblical scholars like Jacob Milgrom and anthropologists like Mary Douglas. Now I approach the book each year truly grateful that it exists to confront me again with aspects of life and death I might otherwise have missed or avoided.
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Calling Out
Mar 24, 2007 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayikra
This week represents new beginnings in the Jewish calendar. We welcomed the month of Nisan in which we celebrate our birth as a people and a nation; and this week we begin a new book of Torah, Leviticus, or in Hebrew, Va–yikra.. More than the significance of this liminal moment is the extent to which the notion of relationship locates itself at the core of both of these events. In so many ways, Nisan celebrates the relationship of God and Israel — God’s act of covenantal fulfillment and hesed in taking the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. And similarly, the Book of Leviticus opens with a curious commentary on relationships — specifically, the relationship between God and Moses.
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Inspiring Our Institutions
Mar 17, 2007 By Steven Brown | Commentary | Pekudei | Vayak-hel
The detailed description of the completion of the Mishkan in all its splendor can overwhelm us with a plethora of information, blinding us to the power and importance of this week’s double parashah concluding the book of Exodus.
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Actions with Consequences
Mar 10, 2007 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Ki Tissa
The Second Book of Samuel 12 is home to one of the most disturbing episodes of Tanakh. After King David’s reckless encounter with Batsheva and the murder of Uriah the Hittite, Nathan the prophet is sent by God to rebuke David. Nathan speaks in a biting metaphor, leading David in the direction of seeing himself as the guilty party of the parable. And just as Nathan concludes his story, he points his finger at David — informing David of his punishment: the sword will forever plague his household. What becomes shocking, though, is not the punishment that devolves on the shoulders of David, but rather the tragic end to the offspring of David and Batsheva.
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