Why We Rejoice
Sep 23, 2010 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Text Study | Sukkot
We are blessed with so much—until we are not. Which is why we don’t count chickens before they hatch or rejoice before the crops are in: it ain’t over till it’s over.
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Prophetess, Leader, Musician
Apr 29, 2016 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Pesah
Joy is the theme of the hour as God’s praises are sung during the completion of Hallel. The image that bursts forth in our mind’s eye is that of Miriam the Prophetess and the women celebrating their newly found freedom on the banks of the Reed Sea. While the moment is solemn, it is also one of intense elation.
Shevi’i Shel Pesah: Living at the Frontier
Apr 29, 2016 By Lauren Henderson | Commentary | Pesah
On the seventh day of Passover (Shevi’i shel Pesah), we reached the frontier of our existence: Yam Suf, the Sea of Reeds. We had known slavery intimately, becoming deeply comfortable in Egypt even as we clamored to leave. And after all the plagues and darkness and death, we arrived, trembling, at the water’s edge, about to surface and breathe the unfamiliar air of freedom for the first time.
A Noble Freedom
Apr 22, 2016 By Tim Daniel Bernard | Commentary | Pesah
Many Virginians of middle and upper ranks aspired to behave like gentlemen. In the early seventeenth century an English gentleman was defined as one who could “live idly and without manual labor.” The words “gentleman” and “independent” were used synonymously, and “independence” in this context meant freedom from the necessity of labor.
Read More—David Hackett Fischer, Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America, 366
