JTS Torah Archive

The Language of the Jewish People

Sep 24, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Ki Tavo

The owner of the mid-nineteenth-century farmhouse we rented for August has a well-tended orchard of diverse fruit trees.

The Status of Women

Sep 17, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Ki Tetzei

At JTS’s opening barbecue for faculty and their families last week, my son and daughter-in-law told us sheepishly that their fourteenth wedding anniversary had caught them unawares.

Redeemed for This Reason

Sep 17, 2005 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Ki Tetzei

Hurricane Katrina united our country in common empathy and purpose. The outpouring of support, monetary and otherwise, has been greater than most of us could have hoped for or imagined. But was it really so surprising? The Torah suggests that our national response was correct but would not have expected any less.

Worthy Judges

Sep 10, 2005 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Shofetim

This week opened with the mournful news of the passing of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. While we subscribe to a wide spectrum of views with regard to his decisions, he was undoubtedly a brilliant legal mind. Of his leadership on the Supreme Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted, “Chief Justice William Rehnquist was the fairest, most efficient boss I have ever had . . . he cautioned that a judge steps out of the proper judicial role most conspicuously and dangerously when the judge flinches from a decision that is legally right because the bottom line is not the one ‘the home crowd wants.’ I hold him in highest regard and affection and will miss him greatly.” Justice Ginsburg’s tribute to Chief Justice Rehnquist speaks volumes about the extent to which a judge must be fiercely deliberate, independent, and fair in his or her decisions. Truly, we have lost a leader in that respect.

The Responsibility of Holding Office

Sep 10, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Shofetim

Rabbi Hananiah, the Deputy High Priest, taught: “Pray for the welfare of the government, for if people did not fear it, they would swallow each other alive” (Pirkei Avot 3:2, trans. Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals, 264).

Vanquishment Through the Written Word

Sep 3, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Re'eh

For a book that purports to be but a reprise of the other books of the Torah, Deuteronomy abounds with puzzling discrepancies.

Core and Periphery

Sep 3, 2005 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Re'eh

Megiddo, an archaeological tel in Northern Israel, is situated at the crossroads of an ancient trade route. Indeed, it was the nexus in power struggles among the Canaanites, Egyptians, Israelites, Assyrians, and Babylonians. As such, Megiddo is a site of great biblical significance, especially in the context of this week’s Torah reading, Parashat R’eih. II Kings relates how King Josiah (639-609 BCE), who was one of the figures responsible for centralizing Israelite religion, was killed by Pharaoh Necho II. Accordingly, at the core of our parashah, we read of the sweeping legislation regarding the centralization of the Israelite sacrificial cult.

The Species of Israel

Aug 27, 2005 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Eikev

This past summer, I walked through a dream. I had the blessing, along with Rabbi David Hoffman, of leading a very special group through the length and breadth of the Land of Israel. Some forty-two leaders from Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico – many of them students of the JTS Kollot: Voices of Learning program – joined together in the presence of Chancellor Ismar Schorsch to journey through Jewish tradition and text. With Tanakh in hand, we began our journey at Beit Hatefuzot, The Museum of the Diaspora. There we were treated to a bird’s eye view of Jewish history. The following morning, we embarked on an expansive and emotional ten-day trek, in which we encountered the biblical, Rabbinic, medieval, and modern periods. More than a mission, this experience was a pilgrimage that animated Torah. And nowhere did this encounter come alive more than at Neot Kedumim, the Biblical Landscape Reserve in Israel.

Judaism’s Activist Spirit

Aug 27, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Eikev

In his early Zionist tract, Rome and Jerusalem (1862), Moses Hess declaimed “that the Jewish religion is, above all, Jewish patriotism.”

A Time for Comfort

Aug 20, 2005 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Va'et-hannan

This week witnessed a historic and painful moment in the history of Modern Israel the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip. As many commentators have pointed out, this was the first time since 1967 that Israel has withdrawn unilaterally from territories occupied in the Six Day War. While Prime Minister Ariel Sharon acknowledged the profound national trauma of uprooting families living in the Gaza Strip, he gave voice to the reality of the situation.

Constant Vigilence

Aug 13, 2005 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Devarim

The Ninth of Av or Tish’ah Be’av occurs this coming Sunday. After Yom Kippur, this commemoration is the most significant fast day of the Jewish year. We remember not only the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, but also many tragedies which befell the Jewish people over the course of our history. In addition to fasting, mournful liturgy is interwoven into the observance of the day. Most importantly, we read the Book of Lamentations. This tearful, moving, and graphic text describing the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BCE is attributed to the prophet Jeremiah. The opening word of this scroll captures its essence — aikha — how.

On Writing Torah Commentaries

Jul 9, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Hukkat

As I begin my twentieth and final year as Chancellor, I am mindful of the cautionary verse from Proverbs, wisely inserted by our sages in the morning liturgy: “Many are the designs of the human heart, but in the end, it is God’s plan that will prevail.”

Who is Holy?

Jul 2, 2005 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Korah

This week’s parashah opens with a prideful challenge to the authority of Moses and Aaron as leaders of the Children of Israel. Korah and his cohorts, Datan and Aviram, “rise up against Moses together with two hundred and fifty Israelites.” Their claim against Moses and Aaron: “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the Lord is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above the Lord’s congregation?” (Numbers 16:3). At first glance, Korah’s objection seems reasoned and justified. Perhaps this would-be leader is calling for democratization within the Israelite community. After all, as Rashi writes in his commentary on this verse, “for all of the congregation is holy – they all heard the words of Sinai from the mouth of God.”

Truth and Mercy

Jun 25, 2005 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Shelah Lekha

Being deliberate in speech and generous in mercy stand at the heart of Parashat Sh’lah L’kha. At the opening of our Torah reading, God commands Moses to send leaders from each tribe to spy on the Land of Canaan. The timing seems auspicious. As the Israelites near the liminal moment of entry, it is fitting that God desires representatives to scout the land. Since the Israelites would soon be God’s agents in dispossessing the Canaanites of their territory, they needed to know what to expect. Regrettably though, the spies return from their mission hastily, reporting that “the people that dwells in the land is powerful, the cities are heavily fortified, and giants live there” (Numbers 13:28). Their brutally truthful report triggers hysteria among the Israelite community which demands a return to Egypt.

The Botanical Menorah

Jun 18, 2005 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Beha'alotekha

A central image of this week’s parashah is the seven-branched menorah, which was lit in the Israelites’ journey in the desert and later in the Temple. This ancient symbol turns our thoughts to Shabbat, and also toward the land of Israel.

Lessons From the Book of Ruth

Jun 12, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Shavuot

Sharing our possessions is not a disposition that comes naturally.

What Does a Blessing Require?

Jun 11, 2005 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Naso

At the core of Parashat Naso, one finds the Priestly Blessing.

Associations abound with these simple and precious words: a sentimental vignette of one’s grandfather removing his shoes, enwrapping himself wholly in his tallit, and proudly echoing the words of this biblical formula; or perhaps it is a memory from one’s Bar or Bat Mitzvah in which the rabbi graciously placed his or her hands on you and recited these words; or maybe your personal association is with the blessing of children recited each Shabbat evening. And while our images connected to the Priestly Blessing may abound, rarely do we think about the profound meaning behind these words that play such a central role in our tradition.

JTS’s Eternal Light

Jun 11, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Beha'alotekha

Forty-five years ago my marriage to my wife Sally coincided with the weekly Torah portion of Beha’alotekha, “When you (Aaron) mount the lamps, let the seven lamps give light at the front of the lampstand” (Numbers 8:2).

Our Rendezvous with God

Jun 11, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Naso

The completion of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, like the construction of the Temple by Solomon centuries later, restricts the locus of God’s presence to a single sacred space.

Counting People

Jun 5, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Bemidbar

The book of Numbers opens on a triumphant note.