![Praying for the Peace of Jerusalem](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/alan_cooper-300x300.jpg)
Praying for the Peace of Jerusalem
May 13, 2024 By Alan Cooper | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Yom Hazikaron-Yom Ha'atzma'ut
In Commemoration of Yom Hazikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror)
With Dr. Alan Cooper, Elaine Ravich Professor of Jewish Studies, JTS
Read More![In Each and Every Generation](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/BV-headshot-228x300.jpg)
In Each and Every Generation
Apr 19, 2024 By Burton L. Visotzky | Commentary | Pesah
Twice in the Passover liturgy we hear the phrase, “in each and every generation.” We are taught that “in each and every generation a person is obligated to see himself as though he had participated in the Exodus from Egypt.” On the other hand, we are reminded that “in each and every generation they arise against us to destroy us.” The consolation is that The Holy, blessed be God, presumably saves us from their hands.
Read More![Across the Divide: Tips for Hard Conversations at the Seder Table](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Rabbi-Jan-Uhrbach-300x300.jpg)
Across the Divide: Tips for Hard Conversations at the Seder Table
Apr 15, 2024 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Pesah
Many of us are approaching seder this year with concern about seemingly unbridgeable divides about Israel. It’s tempting to try to avoid difficult conversations, but Passover isn’t merely a holiday of gratitude for a past redemption—it calls us to move toward transformation and freedom internally and externally, individually and collectively, especially with those closest to […]
Read More![Between Moscow, Kyiv, and Jerusalem: How The Wars in Ukraine and Gaza Have Changed Russian and Ukrainian Attitudes Toward Israel and Jews](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/david_fishman_900_sq-300x300.jpg)
Between Moscow, Kyiv, and Jerusalem: How The Wars in Ukraine and Gaza Have Changed Russian and Ukrainian Attitudes Toward Israel and Jews
Jan 15, 2024 By David Fishman | Public Event video | Video Lecture
Dr. David Fishman, expert on Ukrainian Jewry, discusses the complex connections between the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and how Russian and Ukrainian attitudes toward Israel and Jews have evolved as a result—both for better and for worse.
Read More![Where Are We Now? Rethinking Exile, Diaspora and Home in Israel and America](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/arnie_eisen-300x300.jpg)
Where Are We Now? Rethinking Exile, Diaspora and Home in Israel and America
Jan 29, 2024 By Arnold M. Eisen | Public Event video | Video Lecture
For many Jews in Israel and America, the war with Hamas has provoked a reconsideration of long-held assumptions about Israel, the Diaspora, and the relationship between the two. This lecture considers whether America can be a true home for Jews or whether is it another instance of exile, albeit different in some respects from all others—and it aska these same questions regarding Israel. We examine a variety of responses to these questions by Americans and Israelis, Zionists and non-Zionists, that sharpen debate and challenge convictions that we hold dear.
Read More![“Zion in the Diaspora”: How Jews Imagined They Lived in Zion Wherever They Actually Lived](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/david_kraemer-300x300.jpg)
“Zion in the Diaspora”: How Jews Imagined They Lived in Zion Wherever They Actually Lived
Jan 22, 2024 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture
Jews through the ages have hoped that one day the Messiah would come, leading them back to Zion. But in the meantime, they lived all over the world, making homes in one diaspora or another. And remarkably, they often spoke of their diaspora homes as “Zion,” a place of redemption long before actual redemption. In this session, we will examine multiple such teachings and traditions including teachings of the great Maharal of Prague (16th century), early Hasidic masters (18th century), and others. We will consider what it means for Jews to imagine themselves in their eternal homes while living abroad
Read More![What Do Tefillin Do?](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Rodin-Square.jpg)
What Do Tefillin Do?
Jan 19, 2024 By Lara Rodin | Commentary | Bo
Our sages explained that the placement of our tefillin as a “sign upon our hands” and a “reminder on our foreheads” is meant to represent the intellect (tefillin shel rosh) and the physicality (tefillin shel yad) of a person. For Keli Yakar, Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz, both the tefillin that sits on our arm and the tefillin that sits above our eyes are meant to represent the dichotomy that is at play between thought and action.
Read More![Between the Lines: Palestine 1936](https://www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/jtslogo_pms173___high_res_square-1-300x300.jpg)
Between the Lines: Palestine 1936
Nov 7, 2023 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video
Oren Kessler discusses his book Palestine 1936 which tells the epic story—for the first time in English—of the 1936–1939 Arab Revolt in British Mandate Palestine, the forgotten first “Intifada” that was a seminal event in the birth of Israel and the Middle East conflict, with lasting repercussions.
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