JTS Torah Archive

The Day After Destruction

Jul 24, 2010 By Mychal Springer | Commentary | Va'et-hannan

The dreaded has happened. The inconceivable has come to pass. The Temple has been destroyed. Our center is no more. Our sense of safety is shattered. The world is no longer familiar. We are in a place of disorientation. So this Shabbat we begin the hard work of consolation: Nachamu, nachamu ami (“Comfort, oh, comfort My people, Says your God” [Isa. 40:1]).

How We Reconcile Grief and Comfort

Jul 17, 2010 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Tishah Be'av

The Hebrew month of Av, as the Rabbis have acknowledged and history has reinforced, is the month of calamity—the month of sorrow. There is quite a list of catastrophes that transpired on the day we observe in fasting and mourning this week: from the report of the spies under Moses to the destruction of both the First and Second Temples; from the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, under the edict of Franz Ferdinand, to the deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka in 1942. Each shares this day on the calendar, and as we approach the ninth of Av, we prepare ourselves for some destruction—be it spiritual or historic—that resonates with each of us.

Boundary of the Wilderness

Jul 10, 2010 By Alan Mintz (<em>z”l</em>) | Commentary | Masei | Mattot

The Torah is replete with lists of every kind: the generations before and after Noah, the enumeration of the tribes and their chieftains in the desert, the catalogs of forbidden foods, the inventories of priestly garments.

Who Counts?

Jul 3, 2010 By Judith Hauptman | Commentary | Pinehas

We all filled out census forms this year, as stipulated by the United States constitution. The closing date was March 31. My twin sons, who were born on March 30, 1980, were included in that year’s census as one-day-old babies. I sometimes joke that they burst out of the womb seven weeks early just so that they could be counted. The Bible, however, does not count children.

Modern Day Prophets

Jun 26, 2010 By Andrew Shugerman | Commentary | Balak

Twice during my teenage years, I felt that I’d witnessed a modern-day prophet speaking live on television. I grew up with the idea that such a phenomenon was not just possible but something for which we, as American Jews, yearn. We have watched how tremendous oratory can change history by reflecting the transformations taking place in our society and around the globe.

The Mystery of the Red Heifer

Jun 19, 2010 By Barry Holtz | Commentary | Hukkat

This week’s Torah reading opens with one of the most mysterious and incomprehensible rituals in the entire Bible. Numbers 19:1–22 describes the ritual of the red heifer—the complex practice that allows a person who has come in contact with a dead body to become “purified” of the contamination (tu’mah) that accompanies connection to those who have died. A red heifer is slaughtered, its body and blood are burned in a fire with certain woods and plants, and the ashes that remain after that burning are used in a mixture with water to create a kind of paste that is sprinkled on those who have come in contact with a corpse.

Korah’s Rebellion in Blue and White

Jun 12, 2010 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Korah

From what time do they recite the morning Sh’ma [prayer]? From when [there is sufficient light] in order to distinguish between blue and white.

—Mishnah Berakhot 1:2

What was the nature of Korah’s great rebellion?

Our Covenant with God

Jun 4, 2010 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Shelah Lekha

When Moses confronts the gravest challenge to his and God’s authority since the golden calf, the negative report of the spies sent to scout the Land of Israel, he responds with a lawyerly argument for divine mercy that is taken directly from the one that had staved off the people’s annihilation by God the first time around. The argument takes the form of a question: What will the Egyptians say if God destroys His people?

How Do We Deal with Frustration?

May 29, 2010 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Beha'alotekha

As the Israelites begin their journey away from a place they’ve called home for 400 years toward an unknown land and future, their frustrations turn into complaints that ignite God’s wrath and test the limits of Moses’s patience. Two models emerge from this cycle of stories.

God and the Designated Hitter

May 22, 2010 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Naso

I guess I set myself up for the question.

You see, I believe Judaism has something to add to how we live our lives, secular and religious. There is a depth to Jewish thought, practice, and literature that, if we welcome it, can color our existence with a hue of holiness that can help us see even the most trivial of actions and thoughts in a different, divine light. I consider this one of the greatest gifts of Jewish tradition. It is a relevant and meaningful tradition because it adds meaning and relevance to each step of our day.

Teach Us to Number, O God!

May 15, 2010 By Robert Harris | Commentary | Bemidbar

Our Torah portion this week begins the fourth book of the Torah (see? I’m numbering already!), B’midbar. This Hebrew name of the book comes from one of the first significant words in the book, and means “in the wilderness of . . . ” (see below). But in rabbinic antiquity, another name of the book circulated, and that was humash (orsefer) Ha-piqqudim, which essentially means “Book of Counting” (see, e.g., Mishnah Yoma 7:1). This name corresponds to the ancient Jewish Greek version, Arithmoi, which was rendered by the Latin Vulgate Numeri, from which comes our current English title, “Numbers.

Our Relationship to God

May 10, 2010 By Lisa Gelber | Commentary | Behar | Behukkotai

As I chanted this verse from the end of Parashat B’har, over and over again, in preparation for reading Torah, it suddenly occurred to me how clear the Torah is about our relationship to God as slaves. Not so many weeks ago, we focused on our enslavement in Egypt. Think back to the Passover seder, where we sang Avadim Hayinu (We Were Slaves). Not to God; rather, l’Pharaoh b’meetzrayeem (to Pharaoh in Egypt). We know the story, and can name the oppressor. So if we were slaves to Pharaoh, and then God took us out of bondage—out of the narrow places, the straits of Egypt—what are we to do with this idea of our enslavement and servitude to God?

A Nation with Priests

Apr 30, 2010 By Alan Cooper | Commentary | Emor

Many Conservative synagogues no longer distinguish between members who claim descent from the priestly castes (kohen, levi) and ordinary Jews (yisra’el). The priestly blessing is recited by whoever happens to be leading the prayer service; the first two aliyot to the Torah are handed out democratically and dubbed rishon/sheni (“first/second”) instead of kohen/levi. Nevertheless, it is important to keep the old distinctions in mind as we read biblical priestly law in general and Parashat Emor in particular. Distinctions between priests and their fellow Israelites, like those between Israel and the nations, are fundamental to the biblical concept of holiness.

Empowered Judaism: What Independent Minyanim Can Teach Us about Building Vibrant Jewish Communities

Apr 27, 2010 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

How will the independent minyan movement affect the traditional American Jewish community? What does this new movement imply for the future of synagogues and Jewish education? 

Healthy (and Maybe Even Holy) Ambivalence

Apr 24, 2010 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim

Building identity is complicated and sometimes painful work. This is true both on an individual level and when it comes to nations. What makes thinking about identity even more complicated is the fact that identity is really never completely “formed.” Sure, a national identity should have core commitments. But I would suggest that we shift our understanding of identity from something that is fixed to a subjective process by which one group comes to recognize itself as being different from other groups. Understood in these terms, identity is dynamic—always emerging and continually being transformed over time.

Healing of Body and Mind

Apr 16, 2010 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Metzora | Tazria

The Baal Shem Tov, seeking the sort of symbolic meaning in this week’s section of Leviticus that we too search out, found the laws of scaling and scalding, bodily discharge, and fungus in the warp and woof of fabric suggestive of the need for repentance and humility.

Health Care Reform: Where Are We Now? Where Are We Going? Does Judaism Have Guidance to Offer?

Apr 12, 2010 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

Presented by the Louis Finkelstein Institute of The Jewish Theological Seminary.

“Sacred Trash”: Library Book Talk about the Treasures of the Cairo Genizah

Apr 10, 2010

The authors of Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza, acclaimed essayist Adina Hoffman and the MacArthur Foundation Award-winning poet and translator Peter Cole, tell the story of the recovery from a Cairo genizah (a repository for sacred texts) of the most vital cache of Hebrew manuscripts ever discovered, a story of buried scholarly treasure that rivals in drama, scope, and importance the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and sheds profound light on 900 years of Jewish life.

Aaron’s Silence

Apr 9, 2010 By Eliezer B. Diamond | Commentary | Shemini

In Parashat Sh’mini we read of a great tragedy that befalls the people of Israel on the very day that it celebrates the dedication of the Mishkan, the sanctuary in the desert. Two of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, bring an unauthorized offering and, consequently, they are slain by a fire that issues forth from heaven. We are told that when Aaron was informed of his sons’ death he said nothing: “And Aaron was silent.”

A Pesah Message for My Students

Mar 27, 2010 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol | Tzav | Pesah

This week’s Torah portion reports instructions given by God to Moses concerning Aaron and his priestly descendants. The rest of us, as it were, are invited to eavesdrop.