JTS Torah Archive

No Single Solution

Jun 12, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Hukkat

At its essence, Parashat Hukkat brims with questions and mystery.

Where Does Holiness Come From?

Jun 5, 2013 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Commentary | Korah

Parashat Korah can be challenging for a modern Jew. There is a good guy in this parashah—it’s Moses—and there is a bad guy—Korah. Modern readers, however, often find themselves sympathizing with the bad guy.

Subversive Prayer . . . Necessary Trouble

Jun 5, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

“Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehood. The liturgical movement must become a revolutionary movement, seeking to overthrow the forces that continue to destroy the promise, the hope, and the vision.”[1]

Thoughtfulness and Lovingkindness in the Face of Violence

Jun 5, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Korah

This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Korah, is notorious for the infamous uprising against Moses.

Harshness—Us and Them

May 29, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

In the preliminary service (Siddur Sim Shalom: A Prayerbook for Shabbat, 66), there is a short paragraph remarkably written in the first person singular—using “I” rather than “we.” In the Talmud (BT Berakhot 16b), there are a number of personal prayers of the Sages, the prayers that they would say at the end of the ‘Amidah. This text is attributed to Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi and is inserted at this point in the service because it is similar in theme to the previous paragraph. There is a telling, and sometimes uncomfortable, phrase that begins very innocently, “tatzileini hayom . . . me’azei panim” (save me this day from those with “hard faces” [from the arrogant]). This is a reasonable hope and a fine, if unremarkable, prayer; it would be good to pass a day (or even longer) without encountering others who are arrogant. But that is not the end of the sentence. The prayer of R’ Yehudah continues, “ume’azut panim” (and from my own “hard face” [my own arrogance]).

Who Is Getting Stoned?

May 29, 2013 By Robert Harris | Commentary | Shelah Lekha

Among other subjects, the parashah narrates the story of the spies, one from each tribe, whom Moses sends to scout out the Land. Specifically, let us join the narrative at the point that Joshua and Caleb (the two good or “heroic” spies) attempt to encourage the community—largely ineffectively—after the People express their fears that any effort to conquer the Promised Land will not be successful.

“Get in Trouble.” Commencement Address by US Congressman John R. Lewis

May 29, 2013

The inspirational commencement address was given by US Congressman John R. Lewis at the 119th Commencement Exercises of The Jewish Theological Seminary

The Depth of Sight

May 29, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Shelah Lekha

The Torah reading of Shelah Lekha is literally and figuratively an “eye opening” parashah.

Love—Great and Eternal

May 24, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

The first paragraph of the Shema’ invites us to affirm the unity of God, and then engages the topic of love, the love from a person to God: “ve’ahavat et Adonai Eloheykha” (You shall love Adonai your God). Several important questions present themselves. First, is the phrase “you shall love” to be understood as an imperative? The grammar supports such a construction, leading us to wonder how love can be commanded. A command can be given to bring specified sacrifices, to eat matzah on Pesah, and to show deference to the old, but how can we be commanded to love? Some commentators avoid the dilemma by suggesting the meaning is that we are to behave in a way that would express our love for God, but this avoids the deeper question about how and why this love for God is born in our hearts and minds.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Rav Hisda’s Daughter

May 14, 2013 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

Maggie Anton, the award-winning author of the historical fiction series Rashi’s Daughters and Rav Hisda’s Daughter, a Talmud scholar with expertise in Jewish women’s history, and an esteemed lecturer, gave this Library Book Talk at JTS on Monday, April 29, 2013.

Saul Bellow’s Spiritual Quest

May 8, 2013

Greg Bellow discussed with JTS Chancellor Arnold M. Eisen what it was like to grow up with legendary author Saul Bellow as a father, as well as the older Bellow’s personal, religious, and spiritual life.

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?

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.

In Solomon’s Temple: The Wisdom and Vitality of Solomon Schechter

May 8, 2013 By Arnold M. Eisen | Video Lecture

A special opportunity to study with Chancellor Arnold M. Eisen as he delves into the enduring wisdom and vitality of the legendary Dr. Solomon Schechter, rabbinic scholar and president of JTS from 1902 to 1915. Learn the core works of Dr. Schechter’s ideology in their 19th-century context, and explore their continuing importance to 21st-century Judaism.

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.”