Choosing a Different Jewish Path

Jun 14, 2003 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Naso

Two weeks ago, one of my students remarked that it is difficult to be a student of Torah. When he told a friend of his that he learns Torah on a regular basis, the friend responded in an astonishing and belittling way: “What are you, some kind of born-again Jew?” After hearing of this student’s experience, I conducted my own informal survey asking other students how friends and family have responded to their personal journeys of Jewish learning. Across the board, I was told that the perception was negative.

Redeeming the Sotah

May 25, 2002 By Lauren Eichler Berkun | Commentary | Naso

This week we read about the disturbing ordeal of the sotah, a woman suspected of adultery by her husband. The elaborate account of the sotah procedure is at once magical and horrifying. The priest concocts a potion, chants a curse, and forces the woman to drink the spell-inducing water which will testify to her guilt or innocence.

Finding God’s Presence

Jun 10, 2006 By JTS Alumni | Commentary | Naso

By Rabbi David Greenspoon (RS ’95)

The ancient rabbis were close readers of the Bible, and developed a whole lexicon on how texts were read. Contemporary readers of rabbinic midrash frequently note how the exegetical methods of the rabbis so often presaged modern literary theory. For instance, the rabbis suggested that close proximity of biblical texts, samchut parshiyot, lent itself to appreciating a deeper message from the Bible.

Change From Within

May 25, 2002 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Naso

The pronounced and unsettling shift to the right in western Europe springs from several sources. But feeding them all is the residual power of the nation–state as a determinative factor in ethnic identity. The mega–trends of immigration, globalization and European unification have triggered in many a deep–seated fear of the loss of their national character.

Jewish Law and “The English Patient”

Jun 14, 1997 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Naso

As the Pentagon struggles with the issue of adultery in the military, Americans feast on the photography and melodrama of the film The English Patient. Never have our moral fault lines been so discomforting. Garlanded in Academy Awards, the the film is a straightforward story of adultery in the army, albeit the British in North Africa in World War Two. Ironically, it ends up making a case for the Pentagon’s view that adultery can endanger the security of the military (with Count Amalfi desperately bartering his maps of desert paths for a German place to rescue his injured lover Katherine Clifton), though only after a long, glossy tale of passionate romance.

Our Rendezvous with God

Jun 11, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Naso

The completion of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, like the construction of the Temple by Solomon centuries later, restricts the locus of God’s presence to a single sacred space.

The Gifts of Jewish Unity

May 29, 1999 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Naso | Hanukkah

We modern readers have little patience for repetition. To us it marks the absence of novelty and we hurry on. The end of this week’s parasha is a particularly trying instance: an extended list of twelve tribal chieftains dedicating the Tabernacle cult each with his own gift. But the gifts are absolutely identical: “one silver bowl and one silver basin, each filled with choice flour and oil for cereal offerings, one gold ladle filled with incense and the same number and kind of sacrificial animals (Jacob Milgrom, JPS Torah Commentary, Numbers, p. 53).” Individuality expresses itself barely in the fact that each leader is duly named and allotted his own day for bringing his gift. But the Torah feels obliged to repeat with relentless persistence the details of each gift, adding up to a numbing total of 76 verses of unrelieved sameness (Numbers 7:10–86).

“May the Lord Protect and Defend You.”

Jun 17, 2000 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Naso

In older Jewish cemeteries, you will often come upon a tombstone decorated with a pair of hands. They are often juxtaposed near the top, arched in a triangle with fingers noticeably apart. The symbol of hands positioned to administer the priestly blessing designates the grave of a Kohen, a putative descendant of Aaron, the first high priest. As ancient Jewish art often does, the image embodies midrash in visual form. And since the priestly benediction is the centerpiece of this week’s parashah (6:24–26), I wish to reflect on the far–reaching meaning of this midrash.