Unanticipated Consequences

Dec 19, 2012 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Vayiggash

Joseph’s brothers got very lucky. What started as an act of malice inspired by jealousy and spite turned out to secure the future of the Jewish People. Did they imagine the implications of their action? Did Joseph’s brothers know that their initial plot of murder and their eventual sale of Joseph into slavery would ultimately save their own lives? No, they did not.

Seeing the Big Picture of Joseph’s Life

Dec 19, 2012 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayiggash

Over the past few weeks, we have been immersed in the story of Joseph, from the fateful gift of the striped robe, to his sale to the Ishmaelites and Midianites, to his imprisonment in Egypt, his meteoric rise, and finally the family reunion.

It’s Not What You Say . . .

Dec 19, 2012 By Deborah Miller | Commentary | Vayehi

We have learned that two trees do not make a pattern—it takes three. So we have to look at a series of events in order to learn about Jacob. What can we discern?

Shalom, Shalom, Yet There is No Peace: Waging Peace and Making War

Dec 13, 2012 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

How can the United States defend its freedoms? What is required to promote peace around the world? And, what was it like to be the highest-ranking Jewish officer in the US military?

Or Chadash (New Light): Electromagnetic or Supernal?

Dec 12, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

“Or chadash al Tsiyon ta’ir, venizkeh kulanu m’heirah le’oro” (Cause a new light to shine on Zion, and may we all quickly have the privilege to benefit from its radiance). Each morning, before reciting the Shema’, there is a blessing that opens with a quote from Isaiah praising God, “who forms light and creates darkness,” and looks back to the first great act of Creation—the creation of light and the establishment of cycles of light and darkness, designated as day and night.

Fruits of the Land, Song of the Soil

Dec 12, 2012 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Miketz | Hanukkah

The Joseph narrative continues its dramatic twists and turns as Joseph, through his talented dream interpretations, rises to become the second most powerful figure in the land of Egypt.

Holy Innovation and the Festival of Hanukkah

Dec 11, 2012 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Hanukkah

What is the essential message of Hanukkah, the beloved Festival of Lights? Like many of our holidays, this celebration is protean, shifting shape to accommodate our changing Jewish needs.

Finding Meaning in the Festival of Lights

Dec 11, 2012 By Daniel Nevins | Video Lecture | Hanukkah

The days are getting shorter. The sky is getting darker. Many cultures celebrate to light up this dark part of the year. Judaism follows this with Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights. But some have a hard time finding meaning in the traditional stories and rituals of Hanukkah, so Rabbi Daniel Nevins has delivered a Lunch and Learn about how to find meaning in Hanukkah.

Forgetting to Remember for Posterity

Dec 5, 2012 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Vayeshev

Remember the Sabbath day. Remember what Amalek did to you in the wilderness. Remember what God did to Miriam. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. Memory is integral to our identities as Jews and as individuals. What happens when we lose our memories, or our ability to remember altogether?

Mysterious Mission

Dec 5, 2012

Parashat Vayeshev represents the ceremonial and tragic opening of the Joseph narrative that will carry us to the end of the book of Genesis.

Mattathias – a Story for Hanukkah

Dec 5, 2012 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Podcast or Radio Program

Were the Assyrian-Greeks fighting a proxy war for the Soviets? You decide what this archival episode of The Eternal Light, first broadcast on December 2, 1956 is actually trying to say.

These Lights Themselves Are Holy

Dec 4, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

Soon we light the candles of Hanukkah, which symbolize so many things. In this reflection, let us turn aside for a moment from the complex history and theology, and allow ourselves to enter the realm of kodesh—that which is holy. Hanerot Halalu (Siddur Sim Shalom, 193) is a curious text that we read, or sing, after lighting the hanukkiyah. It is not a blessing or a prayer, for it is not addressed to God; rather, it is a reminder to all who are gathered around the Hanukkah lights that we should not make use of them for any worldly purpose, for they are holy (kodesh hem).

Development, Learning, and Community

Dec 4, 2012 By Jeffrey Kress | Public Event audio

Dr. Jeffrey S. Kress, associate professor and chair of Jewish Education and academic director of the Experiential Learning Initiative at JTS, talks about Development, Learning, and Community: Educating for Identity in Pluralistic Jewish High Schools. Dr. Kress’s recent book uses data drawn from a study of pluralistic Jewish high schools to illustrate the complex and often challenging interplay between the cognitive and social elements of education.

Assumptions and Appearances

Nov 28, 2012 By Nancy Abramson | Commentary | Vayishlah

Things are not always as they appear to be. And when assumptions are based on circumstantial or incomplete evidence, we are often surprised or disappointed by what unfolds.

Shomer Yisra’el—The One Who Guards Israel

Nov 28, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

In the weekday liturgy, after the ‘Amidah, we find in the siddur a little-known sequence of prayer texts known as tachanun (supplications); it can be found in Siddur Sim Shalom of the Conservative Movement, pages 59 through 63. It is not difficult to detect some ambivalence about tachanun, for there is a long list of days on which it is to be omitted, including Shabbat and all Holy Days, and all days of celebration—even the birthdays of famous rabbis.

Angels of Peace

Nov 27, 2012 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayishlah

This week’s parashah opens with the rising tension between Jacob and Esau.

Prayers for the State of Israel

Nov 21, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

With sorrow in our hearts, we turn this week to the dangers facing Medinat Yisrael, the State of Israel, and all who live there. The circulation of “composed prayer texts” does not in any way preclude each person from pouring out his or her inner dreams and desires to God. It is the role of the rabbinic leaders of the community to prepare words that express the thoughts, hopes, and dreams within all of our hearts, and give concrete form to the value and ideals we cherish. Rabbi Reuven Hammer writes this week from the Jerusalem: “ . . . I have added Psalm 91 to our services here during this period. I think it is particularly appropriate for this particular situation with its reference to arrows.”