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Remembering Together
Apr 22, 2022 By William Plevan | Commentary | Pesah
The celebration of Pesah is an outstanding example of the central role that memory plays in Jewish tradition. Underscoring the importance of memory for sustaining human societies, Elie Wiesel wrote, 鈥淲ithout memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.鈥� Communal memory, of course, goes far beyond what any one individual can remember and experience. And yet, what makes memory so powerful as a vehicle for communal identity is that it speaks to us on a personal level.
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Which Is 鈥淲iser鈥�: The Story of the Exodus or the Laws of Pesah?
Apr 15, 2022 By Jeremy Tabick | Commentary | Pesah
One of the core aspects of the Torah鈥檚 Pesah commentary is the education of the participants. In its very introduction, in the reading for the first day of Pesah, the concern of education is placed front and center: 鈥淲hen your children will ask you, 鈥榃hat is this service for you?鈥� you will say, 鈥業t is a pesah sacrifice to God . . .鈥欌�� (Exod. 12:26鈥�27). Indeed, justifying the practice of Pesah to children comes up in the Torah no less than four times.
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Evergreen Lessons from the Haggadah
Apr 8, 2022 By Shuly Rubin Schwartz | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol | Pesah
The Passover seder鈥攖he most celebrated Jewish ritual鈥攕erves as a symbolic reenactment of the journey of the Israelites from slavery to freedom. The Haggadah commands us to experience it annually as a way of developing historical empathy for all who are oppressed, enslaved, displaced, and hoping for liberation; we have ritualized the recounting of our people鈥檚 enslavement and deliverance in part to cultivate a sense of moral responsibility toward those suffering in our own day.
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Here I Am, 罢锄补谤补鈥檃迟 and All
Apr 1, 2022 By Rachel Rosenthal | Commentary | Shabbat Hahodesh | Tazria
When I was 12, a few weeks before my bat mitzvah I went in to meet with one of the rabbis of my synagogue. At the time, the synagogue newsletter included a 鈥減asuk of the week,鈥� a verse from that week鈥檚 Torah portion that was particularly interesting or thought provoking. However, as the rabbi confessed to […]
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The Deathly Power of the Holy
Mar 25, 2022 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Commentary | Shabbat Parah | Shemini
Finding the right words after loss is hard, but Moses鈥檚 comments to Aaron in this week鈥檚 parashah are unusually difficult. At the moment that God fills Aaron鈥檚 hands with abundance, appointing him as high-priest and his descendants as an eternal priesthood, his two eldest die when they attempt to offer incense with a flame brought from outside the newly dedicated sanctuary鈥攁 strange, uncommanded offering. 鈥淎nd fire came forth from the LORD and consumed them . . .鈥�
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Lessons From the Ashes
Mar 18, 2022 By Naomi Kalish | Commentary | Tzav
Many of us choose our careers and life roles carefully and spend our days engaged in pursuits about which we feel passionate. However, sometimes even a vocation can feel like drudgery. Whether a profession, family role, or volunteer position, roles that once came with a sense of calling or purpose can become hard to face and starting the day can require exceptional energy. This can happen as part of the ups and downs of ordinary life but is especially true when we experience multiple simultaneous crises.
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“Tis the Gift to Be Simple”
Mar 11, 2022 By Gordon Tucker | Commentary | Shabbat Zakhor | Vayikra
Parashat Vayikra inaugurates the book of Leviticus, the center(piece) of the Torah. Following immediately on the completion of the meticulously constructed Tabernacle (Mishkan) and its sumptuous appurtenances, it launches a set of instructions for how that sacred space was to function, and under whose authority. No wonder it was called in Rabbinic times 鈥淭orat Kohanim鈥濃�斺�渢he priests鈥� manual.鈥� This week thus presents an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between that Mishkan鈥攁nd all its successor institutions in Jewish life鈥攁nd spiritual quests.
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Can You Rival and Respect Your Teacher?
Mar 4, 2022 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Pekudei
Parashat Pekudei brings the Book of Exodus to a close. Strikingly, Exodus opens with the loss of one home as the Israelites descend into Egyptian enslavement, and that same book closes with the festive completion of another home, the Mishkan or Tabernacle that is the dwelling place of God鈥檚 presence. As Pekudei opens we are reminded that the Tabernacle project, far from being the work of one person, involves the entire Israelite 鈥渧illage鈥濃�擥od, Moses, Israelite craftsmen, and Israelite donors. Still, most significantly, we are reintroduced in this Torah reading to the master artisan of the Tabernacle and its appurtenances, Bezalel.
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The Sanctity of the Schoolroom
Feb 25, 2022 By Ofra Arieli Backenroth | Commentary | Shabbat Shekalim | Vayak-hel
In the Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard (1884鈥�1962) highlights the importance of the home for each of us: 鈥淭he house, even more than the landscape, is a “psychic state,” and even when reproduced as it appears from the outside, it bespeaks intimacy鈥� (72). This week鈥檚 parashah speaks about building a home鈥攁 home for God. Reading the description of this process underscores for me, an educator and a scholar of the arts, the importance of aesthetics and beauty in what we study, the manner in which we study, and above all, the spaces where we study.
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On Needing Certainty Now
Feb 18, 2022 By Yitz Landes | Commentary | Ki Tissa
Imagine, for a moment, that you are an Israelite at the foot of Har Sinai. Over the past few weeks, your life has been turned upside down: you have witnessed mind-boggling miracles, you have been freed from slavery, and you have been brought out into the wilderness, to the bottom of Har Sinai. Too scared to go up the mountain (Exod. 19:18, 23), you and your fellow Israelites remain camped out below as Moses goes up and down, eventually staying up on top as God teaches him and prepares the Tablets. You know that you are going somewhere that you should consider home鈥攖o be sure, a place that you have never seen鈥攁nd you know that many of your practices must change.
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Garments of Light
Feb 11, 2022 By Raymond Scheindlin | Commentary | Tetzavveh
Last week, we read God鈥檚 orders to Moses for the construction of the Tabernacle and its accoutrements. This week, our parashah continues on the subject of the Tabernacle and the preparations for starting the sacrificial cult, focusing on the Tabernacle鈥檚 personnel: the priests鈥攑articularly their vestments and the rituals for the priests鈥� consecration.
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Holding God, Our Tradition, and One Another Close
Feb 4, 2022 By Jacob Blumenthal | Commentary | Terumah
As a leader in the Conservative-Masorti Movement, I see my own ambivalence around the use of technology on Shabbat and to form minyanim shared among many communities, clergy, and synagogue leaders. How should we position ourselves? Should the new opportunities provided by these technologies lead the way? Should we temper our enthusiasm? Should we heed Abraham Joshua Heschel鈥檚 call to experience Shabbat 鈥渋ndependent of technical civilization鈥� and trust in our inherited traditions to hold us together (The Sabbath, 28)?
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The Torah鈥檚 Creative Team
Jan 28, 2022 By David Shmidt Chapman | Commentary | Mishpatim
The metaphor of a playwright and director crafting a new play together can be applied to our parashah. The playscript God is developing is the set of mishpatim (rules), expanding on the Ten Commandments. God begins developing the 鈥渟cript鈥� in a speech to Moses in Exodus 21:1: 鈥淎nd these are the rules that you shall set before them . . . 鈥�
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Strangers at a Revelation
Jan 21, 2022 By Miriam Feldmann Kaye | Commentary | Yitro
Parashat Yitro is framed by the geographical and conceptual ideas of exile and homecoming. Against the backdrop of Bereishit, the notion of movement is critical in framing the experiences of biblical characters: the exile from Eden; the exile of Cain; the 鈥渃alls鈥� to Abraham, Jacob, and others to move, relocate, and find new homes.
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Commanded to Remember
Jan 14, 2022 By Nicole Wilson-Spiro | Commentary | Beshallah
In our Torah portion, after Amalek鈥檚 unsuccessful attack on the Israelites, God says to Moses, 鈥淲rite this as a memorial in the book and tell it to Joshua because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven鈥� (Exod. 17:14). Deuteronomy 25:17鈥�19 repeats the injunction: 鈥淩emember what Amalek did to you on your way after you left Egypt . .
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Teach Your Children Well
Jan 7, 2022 By Dov Kahane | Commentary | Bo
In Parashat Bo, we read about 鈥淧esah Mitzrayim鈥濃�擥od鈥檚 instructions to the Israelites for the eve of their exodus鈥攊ncluding slaughtering the lamb and placing its blood on the doorposts as a marker of divine protection. In Exodus 12:21鈥�28, Moshe conveys these rites, including the need to explain them to children. Many of these passages are most familiar to us from the Passover Haggadah. What can we learn from the way they have been incorporated there?
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Cover Crop for a Hardened Heart
Dec 31, 2021 By Dave Yedid | Commentary | Va'era
These two verses describe the impact of the final plague in the parashah, hail. They come in the short thaw between Pharoah softening his heart鈥攆or the first time this parashah鈥攁nd hardening it again, where our parashah ends. Why does our Torah mention these four crops? What do they have to do with the plagues, or in the calculation of Pharaoh’s change of heart?
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Who is 鈥淯s鈥�?
Dec 24, 2021 By Jessica Dell鈥橢ra | Commentary | Shemot
At first, Pharaoh feels sure he鈥檚 harming only them. These Hebrews that he’d inherited, who’d came with a story about some Joseph prince鈥攂ut who cares about ancient history? In Pharaoh鈥檚 view, the Hebrews are merely a tool for building out new garrison towns. What is a Hebrew slave to mighty Pharaoh, a living god among his people?
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Fear and Forgiveness
Dec 17, 2021 By Sarah Wolf | Commentary | Vayehi
ef; it can also reopen old woundsamongrelatives. This is what happens at the end ofParashatVayehi,which is alsotheendof the book of Genesis,after the patriarch Jacob dies.Following Jacob鈥檚 death, his sonsfear that things are not fully resolved in their family, and theybecome worried that their brother Joseph is still angry at them for the ways they mistreated him.
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Faith by Numbers
Dec 10, 2021 By Joel Seltzer | Commentary | Vayiggash
Most often, when I describe my own faith in God, I liken it to a number line from middle school math class. On the left are the negative numbers, in the center is the lonely zero, and to its right are all the positive numbers, stretching toward infinity.
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