JTS Torah Archive

Blessings

Jan 30, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

The famous Priestly Blessing (Num. 6: 24–26) is an ambiguous text in our liturgy that appears in various guises. It is presented as a selection for study from the Written Torah each morning (Siddur Sim Shalom for Weekdays, 5), and is chanted by the leader of the service at the end of the ‘Amidah (43). The text presents the Torah verses as a memory:

Decimation and Affirmation: A Tale of Two Non-Israelites

Jan 30, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Beshallah

The opening of this week’s Torah reading, Parashat Yitro, stands in stark contrast to the conclusion of last week’s parashah, Beshallah.

“He Taught Him a Tree” (?!)

Jan 23, 2013 By Robert Harris | Commentary | Beshallah

This week’s parashah contains some of the most memorable narratives in the entire Torah: the splitting of the Reed Sea, the miracle of the manna, the battle with Amalek. In the midst of all these narratives comes a pithily told “little tale.”

Memory on Trial: Evaluating Eyewitness Identification Evidence In The 21st Century

Jan 23, 2013 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

Fear to Fortitude

Jan 23, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Beshallah

As the Israelites march toward the Reed Sea, Pharaoh has a notorious change of heart.

Kol haneshamah tehallel Yah! (All that has breath shall praise God!)

Jan 23, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

This is the final verse of Psalm 150—the culmination of the book of Psalms. Every day our set liturgy includes the final six psalms (145 through 150), and, to my personal sorrow, the pacing of the so-called “preliminary service” generally allows a couple of minutes (at most) for a rushed recitation of these classic and profound poetic texts. Fortunately, in many communities—at least on Shabbat, and even on weekdays—a little more time is allowed for Psalm 150. We find a glorious array of musical interpretations of the text that exemplify the diverse approaches to religious music of contemporary Jewish life. Some examples will be found at the end of this essay.

Afraid of the Dark

Jan 16, 2013 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Bo

I cannot read the stories of the plagues without a knot in my stomach. What kind of God hardens Pharaoh’s heart so that the suffering of both the Egyptians and the enslaved Israelites increases? What kind of God comes up with the death of the firstborn as the “final straw”? What am I supposed to do with these stories as someone who wants to believe in the God of Redemption and Compassion and Justice; who wants to feel that God’s presence in my life?

Redemption in Place and Time

Jan 16, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Bo

In his very first comment on Torah, Rashi, the prolific medieval commentator, made this week’s parashah famous for exegetic eternity.

Our God and God of Our Ancestors

Jan 16, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

Many prayers begin with the words “Eloheynu v’Elohei avoteinu” (Our God and God of our ancestors). I hear from so many people that these words are difficult, and an impediment to finding a pathway in Jewish prayer. The word God raises an array of difficulties: people who are inclined to the view “I don’t believe in God” might rightly feel that there is no integrity in addressing their words to God, an entity in whom (or Whom) they do not believe. Others find no security or support in the prayers and traditions of their ancestors, and say Fiddler on the Roof (“Tradition!”) is not enough.

From Teaching to Tikkun (Repair)

Jan 13, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Terumah

From the details of law to the minutiae of a building plan, Parashat Terumah moves us into the inner sanctum of the Tabernacle.

Not Rhetoric, but Reality

Jan 8, 2013 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Va'era

One of the more disheartening reports about Israeli society these days is that our brothers and sisters in Israel are simply not as concerned with the struggle for religious pluralism to the degree that we are in North America. Reporting this past week from the JTA, Ben Sales added his voice to the chorus of journalists writing about what many in the Diaspora consider to be of preeminent importance, but what many in the Israeli population are, at best, disinterested in.

From Slaves of Pharaoh to Servants of God

Jan 8, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Va'era

The opening of Parashat Va’era shows God reiterating the ancestral promise of redemption to a still reluctant Moses.

Hamavdil—The Holy One and Separation

Jan 8, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

We tend to think that the role of religion is to affirm and support an increasing sense of unity in the world. There is much to support such a view. At the end of ‘aleinu (a prayer at the end of every Jewish service), we quote Zechariah 14:9, affirming “ . . . on that day, Adonai will be One and God’s Name will be One.” The text is enigmatic, but certainly speaks of a vision of great unity. Many other texts, in prayers and elsewhere, speak similarly of a quest and vision for this unity. Scholars of mysticism speak of the unio mystica, the experience of unification that is often associated with testimonies of enlightenment.

Heschel’s World to Come

Jan 2, 2013 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Documentary | Short Video

Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel’s reflections on the world to come, from his final television interview before his death in 1972.

Morality and Memory

Dec 31, 2012 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Shemot

As we welcome this coming Shabbat, we turn to the second of the Five Books of Moses, Exodus.

Keva–Kavanah (Liturgy–Prayer)

Dec 31, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

My teacher in London, Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Magonet, wrote a fascinating and inspiring poem-meditation exploring the concepts of prayer and liturgy, which I would associate with the traditional rabbinic terms keva and kavanah (the connection is not 100 percent perfect). Our synagogues are often in fact places of liturgy, where prescribed rites and rituals are carried out, with the gathered congregation participating and/or witnessing. Many among us yearn and dream for synagogues to be places of something else, something more transcendent. Let us turn to selections from Rabbi Magonet’s words: 

Good for the Midwives

Dec 30, 2012 By Walter Herzberg | Commentary | Shemot

What exactly was the good that God did for the midwives? This question has engaged the commentators throughout the generations.

Menuchah Nechonah—Perfect Rest

Dec 20, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

“God filled with mercy, grant perfect rest, menuchah nechonah, under the wings of Your Presence, the Shekhinah . . . to the souls of all those slain, young children and teachers, at Sandy Hook School. May their resting place be in Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden, and may their souls be bound up in the gathering of all life. May they come to be at peace in their place of rest and we say: Amen.”

From Pain to Peace

Dec 20, 2012 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayehi

The response of Joseph’s brothers in the aftermath of Jacob’s death is dramatic: “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrong we did him!’” (Gen. 50:15).

For the Sake of my Brothers, Sisters, and Friends

Dec 19, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

The siddur is full of selections and quotations, from the Bible, the Talmud, Midrash, and even the mystical Zohar. There is great fascination and reward to be found in “unpacking” the paragraphs and pages to which we return so often in the cycles of community (and private) worship.