The Blessing of Monotony?

Sep 1, 2012 By Jack Chomsky | Commentary

Many people struggle with the fact that traditional Jewish prayer is a fixed entity. The words that we say, the times that we say them, are prescribed according to traditions and Jewish law. The culture in which we live, by contrast, values spontaneity and novelty. Why not pray when one feels like it, and not be forced to shoehorn one’s intellect and emotions according to the seemingly arbitrary ideas of our ancient rabbis?

“Alas, Poor Yorick”: A Grave Affair

Aug 25, 2012 By Robert Harris | Commentary | Shofetim

I wish to call your attention specifically to the Torah’s prohibition of “inquiring of the dead.” Rashi seems to adumbrate Shakespeare, when he includes “one who asks questions of a skull” among the possible actions that would represent a violation of the biblical commandment. But the Torah is not imagining a philosophical discourse about life when it prohibits “inquiring of the dead,” but rather, in what is likely its original context, necromancy.

Psalm 27: The Days of Awe

Aug 25, 2012 By Alan Cooper | Rosh Hashanah

The custom of reciting Psalm 27 during the penitential season, variously understood to entail the period from Rosh Hodesh Elul through Yom Kippur, Hoshanah Rabbah, or Shemini Atzeret, is codified in Mishnah Berurah, siman 581: “In our region it is customary to recite [Psalm 27] followed by kaddish at the conclusion of the morning and evening services every day from Rosh Hodesh Elul until Yom Kippur; we customarily recite it until Shemini Atzeret.”

Finding Holiness in the Wilderness of Life

Aug 18, 2012 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Text Study | Masei | Mattot

That life is ever changing makes us curious, grateful, wary. How are we to navigate the ‎uncertainty in a way that makes us feel rewarded?

The Journey Home

Aug 18, 2012 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Re'eh

Why should I choose a Jewish life? And more than just a “Jewish” life—which might consist of nothing more than bagels, gefilte fish, and a penchant for Seinfeld reruns: Why should I choose a life of mitzvah, of Jewish commitment and action, when there are so many other compelling religions and spiritual paths?

Good Ecology Makes Good Theology

Aug 11, 2012 By Stephen P. Garfinkel | Commentary | Eikev

Last week’s reading and this week’s—which together form most of Moses’s second major valedictory speech to the people—provide two aspects of one integral message.

Of Words and Hearts

Aug 11, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

“Take with you words and return to Adonai.” (K’chu imachem devarim.) —Hosea 14:3

Remembering the Munich Eleven

Aug 4, 2012 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Tishah Be'av

What we encounter in the text of the Talmud is the tension between communal mourning and communal celebration. We live our lives in that tension—between joy and sadness, life and death, destruction and rebuilding. All too often our moments of joy are interrupted abruptly by tragedy, and dancing turns to dirge. Just as quickly, we are taken by the hand and out of the depths of our sadness, pulled both emotionally and physically into communal celebration.

Avodah: In the Service of God

Aug 4, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

The Hebrew word avodah has a powerful history, embracing domestic service (Jacob for Laban) and enslavement (Israelites in Egypt), as well as ritual, sacrifice, and prayer. Avodah is often translated with the complex and highly ambiguous English word service, which has implications in the United States of military service, servitude, and religious gatherings.

Who Needs Devarim Anyway?

Jul 28, 2012 By Charlie Schwartz | Commentary | Text Study | Devarim

This week’s midrash seeks to answer the question of why Moses needed to retell the entire Torah in the book of Devarim.

The Source of Hope

Jul 21, 2012 By Mychal Springer | Commentary | Masei | Mattot | Tishah Be'av

In a dramatic reversal of the ordinary mourning process, ‎which begins in its starkest intensity and lifts over time as the mourners are comforted, ‎these are weeks of increasing mourning that move, inevitably, to the destruction of ‎God’s house and the banishment of the People into exile. The prophetic readings drive ‎home that we have brought this horrible tragedy on ourselves.

Choosing Love and Life

Jul 14, 2012 By Andrew Shugerman | Commentary | Pinehas | Tishah Be'av

Every summer I find striking the juxtaposition of Parashat Pinhas with its place in our calendar. This portion either soon follows (as it does this year) or immediately precedes 17 Tammuz. We always read the complete description of the biblical holidays’ offerings with the calamities listed above also in mind. This litany of misfortunes does not only include those related to the end of Temple-based worship; it also locates within the Torah the origin of each of these infamous dates observed as fast days. Those interpretations teach a deeper lesson about Jewish unity when considered with this week’s Torah portion and current events.

Religious Moderation in the Face of Extremism

Jul 14, 2012 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Pinehas

The brutal sentence Pinhas was carrying out was one levied by God at the beginning of chapter 25, but we cannot begin to comprehend the emotional and spiritual trauma that resulted in executing, or even witnessing, this aggressive meting out of God’s justice.

Being Guided by Fear

Jul 7, 2012 By Charlie Schwartz | Commentary | Text Study | Balak

The midrash cited above provides two answers as to why Balak, the king of Moab, would send out the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites. Both answers state fear as the emotion that provokes the desire to curse the Israelites, but they differ in identifying the root cause of the fear.

Living the Life Waiting for Us

Jul 7, 2012 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Balak

Each of us has our version of the story: the infertility, the divorce, the toilet flooding before the Rosh Hashanah guests arrive. Mentsch tracht, gott lacht: man plans, God laughs, as the Yiddish expression goes. Only, most of the time it really doesn’t seem so funny.

In Memory of Sylvia Ettenberg

Jun 30, 2012 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Text Study | Hukkat

The week we read of the passing of Miriam is the week that our community mourns—among others—Sylvia Ettenberg, dean emerita at JTS for more than half a century.

The Humanity of Moses

Jun 30, 2012 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Hukkat

Readers of the Torah suspect that, by this point in his long life, Moses does not much care for the work he does so selflessly. He seems worn down by the incessant kvetching of his people, and has long since grown used to the inscrutability of the God he loves and serves. We are drawn to this man. We want to know him and learn from him. In this way as in so many others, he accomplishes the Torah’s wishes, if not God’s. He draws us into the story, and makes us proud to be its heirs.

Sprinkling Salt on the Challah

Jun 23, 2012 By Andrew Shugerman | Commentary | Text Study

The midrash above gives added context to the way that Judaism continually makes mundane moments and objects into opportunities for experiencing our sense of holiness, ultimate meaning, and purpose as Jews.

The True Sin of Korah

Jun 23, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Korah

“Now Korah, son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, betook himself . . . ” These are the opening words of our parashah from Etz Hayim, the humash of the Conservative Movement, which uses a translation that generally avoids archaic English vocabulary and style. So, we should be puzzled that this translation employs a word that is certainly not a part of common usage. Why not simply say, “Now Korah took“?

Taking Responsibility for Our Mistakes

Jun 16, 2012 By David Levy | Commentary | Text Study | Shelah Lekha

Why would God have made a plan that backfired so badly? Resh Lakish would have us understand that God’s plans were fine; it was ours that went south, when Moses acquiesced to the peoples’ need for a report.

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