Nourishing the Soul
Sep 30, 1998 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Yom Kippur
To fast for a day is not what makes Yom Kippur difficult for us. Fasting gets easier with age. The real challenge of Yom Kippur is to do without the distractions to which we are addicted. Ours is a society that abhors silence. We jog with earphones, run with music, fly with movies and even entertain company with the television droning in the background.
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Taking a Spiritual Inventory
Sep 21, 1998 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
The twentieth-century American artist Georgia O’Keeffe, known for her enlarged and stylized flower studies, once said: “Nobody sees a flower really – it is so small – we haven’t time, and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” Whatever else our High Holy Days might be, they are surely about helping us sharpen our vision. If I had to reduce the drama and choreography, the prayer and music of this protracted season to a single, encompassing goal it would be to enable us to catch another glimpse of what has grown dim or to discover an insight beyond our ken. And because seeing afresh cannot be hurried, we slow down and withdraw, gradually diminishing the bombardment of distractions.
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The Heroism of Hanukkah
Dec 4, 1999 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayeshev | Hanukkah
On the surface, the haftarah for the first Shabbat of Hanukkah (most years there is only one) seems like a self-evident choice. Its dominant image is the seven-branched candelabrum which illuminated the Temple sanctuary. Hanukkah is commemorated by the kindling of lights in our homes. The theme of sacred light forms an unforced link between a biblical text and our only post-biblical festival (till our own day).
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The Religious Value of Joy
Sep 24, 1999 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Sukkot
Sukkot at the Seminary is the loveliest of festivals. Rabbinical students are back from their high holiday jobs. The tension of officiating for the first or second time has dissipated and the gravity of the season lifted. Joined in community, we fill the synagogue with the songs of Hallel and the pageantry of the Lulav. A feeling of thanksgiving is in the air. Together we take our meals in the richly decorated Sukkot in the quadrangle which invigorate our sense of the natural world. Conversation, singing and a bit of Torah from an invited speaker enhance this fare.
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The Right to Question
Jan 15, 2000 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Bo | Pesah
The custom at many a Seder table is to have the youngest child recite the famous four questions which open the evening’s dialogue. Often the child, still several years away from knowing how to read, recites from memory, having learned them by heart in pre-school. The performance is more than a moment of pride for parents and grandparents. It is a taste of the spirit of Judaism which the child will only come to appreciate years later. Judaism is a religion that not only permits but encourages us to ask questions. Because things are sacred does not mean that we have forfeited the right to think for ourselves.
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Purim Vs. Va-yikra: Order Vs. Chaos
Mar 18, 2000 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayikra | Purim
This week we begin our reading of the book Va-yikra, Leviticus, which details the rites of the sacrificial cult, the dynamics of ritual pollution and purification, and the path toward priestly holiness. As a number of scholars have commented, Leviticus is essentially about order. For bible scholar, Everett Fox, Leviticus describes, “a realm of desired order and perfection, a realm in which wholeness is to reign, in which anomaly and undesired mixture are not permitted, and in which boundaries are zealously guarded” (Fox, The Five Books of Moses, 501). This sense of ordered perfection becomes all the more striking in light of our reading of Megillat Esther next Monday evening. At its core, the Scroll of Esther is about chaos and disorder – a world turned upside down. Which is more authentically Jewish? And how are we to understand the juxtaposition of these world views?
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Memory’s Comfort
Jul 28, 2001 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Devarim | Tishah Be'av
Next week I will commemorate Tishah B’Av at Camp Ramah. Many a summer finds me vacationing in Vermont when the fast day comes. My isolation makes its observance doubly difficult. Judaism requires community. Our religious reserves quickly run dry when we go it alone. The presence of a minyan united by ritual not only generates an atmosphere of sanctity, it also inspires our own participation.
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Two Brothers, Two Candidates
Dec 2, 2000 By Joshua Heller | Commentary | Toledot | Purim
This week’s parashah, Tol’dot, tells the story the story of Isaac and Rebecca’s twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau is born with a slight advantage of age, with Jacob born close at his heels. The two brothers vie, each with measures of bluster and guile and with the support of a favoring authority figure, for the birthright and the destiny of a nation. This story has been played out more than once in history- most recently between two candidates in our own day.
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