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The Gift of Uncertainty

May 13, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Emor

Israel is a land almost wholly dependent on the heavens above. As such, concern for one’s crops is a dominant theme through the biblical and rabbinic periods. Far from being a land irrigated by a river flowing through its length as Egypt, Israel is dependent on the rains above — and the winds below. Accordingly, this week’s Parashat Emor delineates the calendar year and very specifically addresses the period in which we find ourselves — the counting of the Omer from Passover to Shavu’ot.

The Holiness of Immigration Reform

May 6, 2006 By JTS Alumni | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim

By Rabbi Felipe Goodman

One of the most beautiful yet most difficult to understand statements made by God in the entire Torah is contained in the opening verses of Parashat Kedoshim: “K’doshim tihyu ki kadosh Ani Adonai Eloheihem [You shall be holy, for I, The Lord your God, am holy].” In a sense, this is one of the things that we as humans expect God to demand from us. To read the opening words of Parashat K’doshim produces no great shock or crisis in faith; on the contrary, it immediately makes us proud to know that God expects more from us than what we usually expect from ourselves.

Whose Land?

May 6, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Kedoshim | Shavuot

Over the past few weeks, immigration and the protection of foreign workers have taken center stage on the American political scene. Far from being a distant, abstract philosophical conversation, the issue is one that the Jewish community has wrestled with throughout its many years of wandering. Indeed, this is a topic that touches the heart and soul of our people.

Like a Gazelle Crying for Water

Apr 29, 2006 By JTS Alumni | Commentary | Metzora | Tazria

By Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer

The gazelle is always in motion skipping through the mountains if she is not getting pierced by Thorn bushes. Surely she doesn’t feel it. Let’s say it another way. Already. She cannot delay.
—Ayelet Solomon, Aphorisms on the Persistence of the Gazelle (2004)

To give birth or to be given birth — that is the question! At the heart of this week’s Levitical regulations concerning the new mother is a highly legal section of Torah that seems less concerned with the new mother’s experience of birth than with how to conceptualize, order, and contain it through law.

Refining God’s Creation

Apr 29, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Metzora | Tazria

Too often our perception of God’s creations and works assumes a sense of completion and perfection. We tend to place an inordinate share of responsibility on the shoulders of God, as it were — arguing that God’s involvement in creation necessarily implies wholeness. Our parashah this week, Tazri·a-Metzora, however demonstrate otherwise; humans are commanded to complete creation and enter into partnership with God. This lesson is evident from the opening of Parashat Tazri·a, which teaches, “On the eighth day, the flesh of [a newborn male’s] foreskin will be circumcised” (Leviticus 12:3). Why does God make a deliberate choice to create boys uncircumcised? What does this act teach us about the significance of brit milah — both for the particular act of circumcision and more generally, regarding the essence of Judaism?

Seeing God in Loss

Apr 22, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Shemini

Loss strikes each one of us at different points in our lives.

Moses, the Charismatic Leader

Apr 15, 2006 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Pesah

It would have been sufficient. The refrain of dayenu that reverberated through seders around the world still rings in my ears.

The Meaning of Pesah

Apr 8, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Pesah

Next week marks the beginning of Passover; with this annual celebration, Jews gather to celebrate the birth of the Israelite nation.

Pesah: The Chesed Holiday

Apr 8, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol

Next week marks the beginning of Passover; with this annual celebration, Jews gather to celebrate the birth of the Israelite nation.

A House of Prayer for All Peoples

Apr 1, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayikra | Pesah

Creative tension is ever present in the poles found within Judaism. We are drawn to the balance between keva and kavannah, that which is fixed and that which is spontaneous; Hassidim fervently debate the Mitnagdim over the line between spirituality and intellectualism; and we are constantly in search of the golden mean between halakhah (law) and aggadah (lore). Another pair of opposites embedded within Judaism is the constant tension between particularity and universality. To what extent should a Jew be zealous in the particular observance of Jewish identity? Or is Torah better understood as a Jewish lens into universal experience?

A Plurality of Voices

Mar 25, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayak-hel

Community is the heart of the Jewish people. To nurture a sense of holiness within our synagogues, it is critical to work toward strengthening a vision of communal responsibility. This notion is emphasized in the opening of this week’s Torah reading, Parashat Va–yakhel: “Moses assembled the community of the children of Israel, saying to them, ‘These are the obligations that God commanded to do them'” (Exodus 35:1). Not only does the general opening of the reading focus on community, but more significantly, the very word with which the parashah begins, vayaqhel, contains the Hebrew root qof–hey–lamed (meaning “community”) — for this is not simply the act of assembling, but it is gathering together a community. What will be the nature of the community we build?

Two Kinds of Community

Mar 25, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayak-hel

A Radiant Face

Mar 18, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Ki Tissa

Coverings, especially of the face, are the theme of the hour in the Jewish calendar. The opening of this week began with our celebration of Purim. At the core of the holiday is the notion of hiddenness. God never explicitly appears in the entire ten chapters of the megillah; and the holiday is celebrated through festive costumes in which we mask, or cover, our true selves. This notion of covering continues thematically in this week’s Torah reading, Parashat Ki Tissa.

What We Are Asked to Remember

Mar 11, 2006 By Yehoshua Aizenberg | Commentary | Shabbat Zakhor | Tetzavveh

By Rabbi Yehoshua Aizenberg

Two Sabbaths ago, we celebrated Shabbat Shekalim, the first of four special Sabbaths preceding Pesah. This coming Shabbat, Shabbat Zachor, always comes right before the Purim celebration.

Why God Needs a Dwelling Place

Mar 4, 2006 By Robert Harris | Commentary | Terumah

Recent portions of the Torah have dealt with the arrival of the Israelites at Mount Sinai; the great theophany of God, in which God spoke the Ten Words, or Decalogue; the revelation of the Book of the Covenant, containing the first extended legal section of the Torah; and the covenantal ceremony sealing the everlasting special relationship between God and the people of Israel (Exodus 19–24).

Within Us

Mar 4, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Terumah

Parashat Terumah is concerned with the building of the mishkan or Tabernacle, the portable sanctuary that accompanied the Israelites on their desert journey. The parashah opens with an appeal by God and Moses to the entire community of Israelites; all are encouraged to participate voluntarily to the building of this sacred space. Plans are detailed, appurtenances are described extensively, and later the construction begins. Exodus 25:8 declares, “And let them make me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst.” Given the connotations of a mikdash, sanctuary, we might assume that God’s presence would dwell in this space. The second half of the verse surprises us, however, stressing God’s dwelling not in a specific physical place but amidst the people.

The Lesson of Egypt

Feb 25, 2006 By David Marcus | Commentary | Mishpatim

Last week’s parashah contained a magnificent description of the revelation at Mt. Sinai.

The Ear that Heard

Feb 25, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Mishpatim

Parashat Mishpatim opens appropriately with laws concerning slavery. Having achieved their freedom after 400 years of bondage, the Israelites are instructed regarding the laws concerning Hebrew slaves. Why is Torah so quick to speak of these particular mitzvot at the outset of the Israelite journey? All too often, freed slaves are quick to become the oppressor. And Torah is consistently vigilant vis–à–vis this danger. The Israelites are encouraged to remember their experience and recount it to future generations; yet, at the same time, they must remember their status as strangers.