JTS Torah Archive

Torah As Water

Nov 26, 2011 By Charlie Schwartz | Commentary | Text Study | Toledot

The metaphor of Torah as water has always resonated with me. With Torah as water, the idea of learning, engaging with, and living through our sacred texts comes into focus. Just as we cannot live for long without water, so too will our lives become desiccated and empty without the study of Torah.

Honoring Teachers

Nov 26, 2011 By David Levy | Commentary | Text Study | Vayetzei

Picking up on the surprising mention of Abraham as Jacob’s father, we learn an important lesson about the roles different people can play in our lives. Each of us who has been taught by someone is obliged to honor him/her as we would our parents. And the extension of this teaching is that each of us has the potential to play this important role in someone else’s life.

Conflicted Relationships

Nov 25, 2011 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Toledot

At the start of this week’s parashah, and again at its conclusion, we confront the complex, conflicted relationship that binds Isaac’s twin sons to one another and to their father. The middle section of the parashah, by contrast, is concerned with the no less complex and conflicted relationship that binds Isaac and his family to their neighbors.

To Speak Is To…

Nov 19, 2011 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah

After the many narratives that explore deeply the life of Abraham and his family, we find in this portion an interlude in which the focus is upon Abraham’s elder servant—not named in our text, but often assumed to be Eliezer (mentioned in Gen. 15:2). Eliezer has been charged by Abraham to find a wife for Isaac—not from the local (Canaanite) population, but from Aram, the place of Abraham’s birth.

Our Aging Bodies

Nov 18, 2011 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Text Study | Hayyei Sarah

If the rabbis could imagine Abraham’s dismay at the physical signs of aging, how much more so for us, men and women, living in a culture in which we are constantly bombarded with visual images of young, vigorous bodies?

Sustaining Our Hearts

Nov 12, 2011 By Andrew Shugerman | Commentary | Text Study | Vayera

On its face, this midrash may seem to state the obvious: that eating bread gives one energy. After all, a look at our food packaging today reveals the ingredients and nutrients contained in any given product. This text, however, teaches that not all nourishment comes in physical form. The deceptively simple statement that “bread strengthens the heart” and the prooftexts that follow it actually provide a subtle commentary to the notion that “man does not live on bread alone” (Deut. 8:3); indeed, we derive sustenance at least as much from our gratitude for the company we keep and for the blessing of hospitality.

Going Toward the Present

Nov 11, 2011 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Vayera

Martin Buber, the great 20th-century Jewish theologian, observed a powerful literary connection between the beginning of Abraham’s life and the end. God first speaks to Abraham suddenly, seemingly without introduction, and commands: “Go forth (lekh lekha) from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). With these few words, God introduces God’s Self to Abraham and it is with these words that their relationship is founded.

Gifts to God

Nov 5, 2011 By David Levy | Commentary | Text Study | Lekh Lekha

The midrash seems to be pointing out that we can learn from Abraham: we are to give a gift to God when we receive good news.

The Redeeming of Captives

Nov 5, 2011 By Eliezer B. Diamond | Commentary | Lekh Lekha

What does it mean to be someone’s brother or sister, beyond a biological fact? In Genesis, the answer seems to be: not much. Every story involving brothers is one of violence, discord, enmity, or deceit. Cain murders Abel; Ham shames his father and is doomed to serve his brothers. Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers—we all know how those relationships played out. In fact, the only brother who comes to his brother’s aid is not actually his brother: it is Abraham—then Abram—who rides to the rescue of his nephew Lot.

Creating an American-Jewish Counterculture

Oct 31, 2011 By Carol K. Ingall | Public Event video

This lecture was part of the 100th anniversary celebration of The Teachers Institute of The Jewish Theological Seminary.

Hebrew at the Heart

Oct 31, 2011

“Hebrew at the Heart” chaired by Dr. Rela Mintz Geffen with Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz and Nessa Rapoport. This lecture was part of the 100th anniversary celebration of The Teachers Institute of The Jewish Theological Seminary.

Rabbi Harold Kushner at the Teachers Institute

Oct 31, 2011

Rabbi Harold Kushner (SC ’55, RS ’60, ’72) delivers the keynote address in memory of William Davidson (z”l) at the 100th anniversary celebration of The Teachers Institute of The Jewish Theological Seminary

The Future of Higher Education

Oct 31, 2011

“The Future of Higher Education,” a discussion with JTS Chancellor Arnold M. Eisen and Barnard College President Debora L. Spar. This lecture was part of the 100th anniversary celebration of The Teachers Institute of The Jewish Theological Seminary.

Small Crimes, Big Punishment

Oct 29, 2011 By Charlie Schwartz | Commentary | Text Study | Noah

This week’s midrash has a rather shocking answer to the question of why the world deserved to be wiped out in the days of Noah.

A Sabbath Song for Parashat Noah

Oct 29, 2011 By Judith Hauptman | Commentary | Noah

It is a lovely Jewish practice to sing songs at the Shabbat table. The little booklets that contain grace also provide the words of many zemirot, Sabbath songs. If we look at two of the more popular ones, Yah Ribbon and Mah Yedidot Menuhatekh, we find that their common theme is a plea to observe the Sabbath in the present, and a hope for a future in which God redeems the People Israel. But there is one song that differs from all the rest. It makes reference to this week’s Parashat No·ah. The name of the song is “The Dove Found a Place to Rest on the Sabbath (Yonah Maz’ah Bo Manoah).”

The Women Who Reconstructed American Jewish Education

Oct 27, 2011 By Carol K. Ingall | Public Event audio

Louis Finkelstein and the Conservative Movement: Conflict and Growth

Oct 27, 2011 By Michael B. Greenbaum | Public Event audio

Rabbi Michael B. Greenbaum, vice chancellor and chief operating officer of JTS, discussed his recently republished book, Louis Finkelstein and the Conservative Movement: Conflict and Growth (JTS Press, May 2009), a history of the Conservative Movement and and a case study of mission conflict through an exploration of Finkelstein’s presidency of JTS between 1940 and 1955.

Sage Tales: Wisdom and Wonder From the Rabbis of the Talmud

Oct 27, 2011 By Burton L. Visotzky | Public Event audio

Dr. Burton Visotzky, Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies and director of the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies of JTS, presents a Library Book Talk on his new work Sage Tales: Wisdom and Wonder from the Rabbis of the Talmud.

Hope in a Democratic Age

Oct 27, 2011 By Alan Mittleman | Public Event audio

Dr. Alan Mittleman, director of the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies and the Tikvah Institute for Jewish Thought, as well as professor of Jewish Philosophy at JTS, discusses his book Hope in a Democratic Age, in this Library book talk.

Jewish Mysticism and the Spiritual Life

Oct 27, 2011 By Eitan Fishbane | Public Event audio

Eitan Fishbane, assistant professor in the Department of Jewish Thought of The Jewish Theological Seminary, presents a Library book talk on Jewish Mysticism and the Spiritual Life: Classical Texts, Contemporary Reflections.