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The Still, Small Voice

Jun 10, 2016 By Sam Blustin | Commentary | Shavuot

In 1 Kings 19, Elijah experiences a divine intervention: an angel brings him food, and then, on Mount Sinai, God passes by him. But God was not in the wind, nor the earthquake, nor the fire, but 鈥渢he still, small voice.鈥� This chapter includes allusions to other moments of divine revelation, which we highlighted in this song, including the giving of the Torah.

Behukkotai鈥檚 Challenge to Us

Jun 4, 2016 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Behukkotai

Blessing comes to fruition through journey. The journey may be as simple as lighting Shabbat candles or it may be as complicated as leaving the comfort of one鈥檚 home to discover new worlds. Either way, that which is familiar is left behind, and a new reality challenges one to grow and thus to earn God鈥檚 blessing. Such is the challenge of this week鈥檚 parashah.

Making Space for New Grain

Jun 4, 2016 By Ofra Arieli Backenroth | Commentary | Behukkotai

Naomi Shemer, one of the most famous songwriters and performers in Israel, is known for her thoughtful songs that touch upon universal themes. In this song, she speaks about the need for rejuvenation. Every morning is an opportunity for a new experience. As successful as our days might be, there is always a need to go back to the beginning and start again.

Facing Our Past and Looking Toward the Future

May 27, 2016 By Michal Raucher | Commentary | Behar

Recently, the US Treasury Department announced that Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States, on the $20 bill. Tubman was born as a slave around 1820, ran away in 1849, and returned south repeatedly to usher more than 300 slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad. Her selection for the $20 bill is exciting news, because Tubman will be the first African American and the first woman to appear on federal paper currency. Women and civil rights leaders will be added to the $5 and $10 bills in the coming years, as well. While these changes are long overdue, the question is whether this change is merely symbolic or a further step toward acknowledging our nation鈥檚 ugly history of slavery. 

How Many Harvests

May 27, 2016 By Joel Alter | Commentary | Behar

In its radical reframing of our right to claim ownership of anything and anyone, Parashat Behar sets our mortality against God鈥檚 eternality, and our contingent lease to the Land against God鈥檚 permanent deed: 鈥淭he Land must not be sold beyond reclaim, for the Land is Mine; you are but strangers resident with Me鈥� (Lev. 25:23).

The Blasphemer鈥檚 Twin

May 20, 2016 By Tim Daniel Bernard | Commentary | Emor

This week鈥檚 parashah ends with a sin:

讜址讬旨执拽旨止讘 讘旨侄谉-讛指讗执砖旨讈指讛 讛址讬旨执砖讉职专职讗值诇执讬转 讗侄转-讛址砖旨讈值诐 讜址讬职拽址诇旨值诇.

The son of the Israelite woman pronounced the name [of God] and cursed. (Lev. 24:11)

Maybe we don鈥檛 need to overthink why a law code seen as given by God would determine that cursing God is problematic, but how severe a crime is this? Evidently, Moses was uncertain: the culprit was detained while Moses checked in with God (Lev. 24:12). Perhaps the negative consequence of this act seems unclear. After all, what harm can possibly come to God through human words?

An Illustration of Kiddush Levanah

May 20, 2016 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Commentary | Emor

The middle of this week鈥檚 parashah (Lev. 23) details the cycle of the Jewish holidays. Each holiday is listed according to its month and its day. The months of the Hebrew calendar are strictly lunar, from new moon to new moon. Kiddush Levanah, a selection of prayers in honor of the new moon, is traditionally recited at the end of the first or second shabbat of each month.

鈥淵ou Shall Fear Your God鈥�: Theological, Moral, and Psychological Implications

May 13, 2016 By Walter Herzberg | Commentary | Kedoshim

There are many exhortations in Leviticus 19, but only two of them conclude with 鈥�you shall fear your God, I am the Lord.鈥� We will focus on Leviticus 19:14鈥�

You shall not curse the deaf, and before the blind you shall not place a stumbling block; rather you shall fear your God, I am the Lord

鈥攁nd five traditional Jewish interpretations, to examine how the phrase 鈥測ou shall fear your God鈥� informs our understanding of the injunctions not to curse the deaf and not to place a stumbling block before the blind.

Kedushah in the Choir

May 13, 2016 By Nancy Abramson | Commentary | Kedoshim

This week鈥檚 parashah opens with a statement on holiness: 鈥淵ou shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy鈥� (Lev. 19:2). In the original Hebrew, the word 鈥測ou鈥� in this verse is in the plural form, implying that anyone can attain holiness the capacity for holiness is not only for those who are spiritually gifted. The plural 鈥測ou鈥� might also suggest that holiness is best achieved in the context of a community, rather than as a solo effort.

Where Is Authority Found?

May 6, 2016 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Commentary | Aharei Mot

People familiar with the dietary laws of Judaism know that meat from an animal that died a natural death or was torn apart by wild beasts is not kosher. This is stated explicitly in the Torah. Exodus 22:30 reads, 鈥淵ou shall be my holy people: you may not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you should throw it to dogs.鈥� (The Hebrew word for 鈥渢orn by beasts鈥濃��terefah鈥攔efers specifically to torn flesh in biblical Hebrew.)

Songs of Joy, Counterpoints of Tragedy

May 6, 2016 By Jonathan Lipnick | Commentary | Aharei Mot

Perhaps the Torah speaks now, in the spring of atonement, because we know so well our songs of joy carry with them counterpoints of tragedy. 

Why should we be reading about Yom Kippur around the time Pesah is celebrated? These two holidays seem so different, and yet, in her poem 鈥�Aharei Mot,鈥� Ruth Brin was on to something, leading me to wonder: How was I to understand the interrelationship between Yom Kippur and Pesah? How was I to take Ruth Brin鈥檚 instructive words to heart? 

Shevi鈥檌 Shel Pesah: Living at the Frontier

Apr 29, 2016 By Lauren Henderson | Commentary | Pesah

On the seventh day of Passover (Shevi鈥檌 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鈥檚 edge, about to surface and breathe the unfamiliar air of freedom for the first time.

Prophetess, Leader, Musician

Apr 29, 2016 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Pesah

Joy is the theme of the hour as God鈥檚 praises are sung during the completion of Hallel.  The image that bursts forth in our mind鈥檚 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.

Remembering Pesah 1946

Apr 22, 2016 By Avinoam Patt | Commentary | Pesah

Every Passover as we read the Haggadah, we recite:

In each and every generation, a person is obligated to regard himself as though he actually left Egypt. As it says: 鈥淵ou shall tell your son on that day, 鈥業t is because of this that God took me out of Egypt.鈥欌�� (Exodus 13:8)

Seventy years ago, in April 1946, the first Passover in postwar Germany followed the liberation of the concentration camps. The survivors who gathered to form the She鈥檈rit Hapletah, the surviving remnant, felt this transition from slavery in a more immediate sense than any generation of the children of Israel in the 2,000 years that preceded them. 

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 鈥渓ive idly and without manual labor.鈥� The words 鈥済entleman鈥� and 鈥渋ndependent鈥� were used synonymously, and 鈥渋ndependence鈥� in this context meant freedom from the necessity of labor.

鈥擠avid Hackett Fischer, Albion鈥檚 Seed: Four British Folkways in America, 366

Inside Out

Apr 15, 2016 By Ally Sterling | Commentary | Metzora

This week鈥檚 parashah, Metzora, details the special procedures a kohen performs to purify the recovered metzora (a person suffering from some kind of skin condition), 迟锄补谤补鈥檃迟 in the home, and ritual impurity. Metzora is about the insides (childbirth and emissions) and outsides (skin afflictions) of the body. I created Inside Out as part of a series of biological drawings that explores the beauty and intricateness of the inner workings of the human body. When I made Inside Out, I wanted to explore the different functions and shapes of human anatomy and physiology, and also the way in which everything is connected.

Beyond the Exodus from Egypt

Apr 15, 2016 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol | Pesah

Most of us, at one time or another, have asked the question about the Passover seder that the Haggadah attributes to the 鈥渨icked son鈥�: What is the point of all this? At such moments of skepticism, we probably understand why an annual family gathering is worthwhile, we perhaps remember fondly the seders of our youth, and we may even confess to being moved by the rituals reenacted at the seder table year after year: reciting the four questions, dripping wine from cup to plate at the recital of the ten plagues, singing Had Gadya. But really, we ask: Why is the event of Israelite slaves leaving Egypt over 3,000 years ago (if it ever happened in the first place) so important that an entire holiday is devoted to it (not to mention countless daily prayers)?

Here I Am, 罢锄补谤补鈥檃迟 and All

Apr 8, 2016 By Rachel Rosenthal | Commentary | 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�pasuk 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 me, the week of my bat mitzvah was to be the end of that custom. He just couldn鈥檛 find anything that fit the bill. That week鈥檚 parashah? Tazria.

Keep Calm and Consult a Priest

Apr 8, 2016 By Hillel Gruenberg | Commentary | Tazria

Tazria begins with a discussion of the ritual purity of a woman following childbirth and goes on to relate the treatment of leprosy. Reflecting on this juxtaposition of topics, my thoughts turned to the Zika virus, which has garnered global attention because of evidence it may cause birth defects in the children of mothers infected while pregnant. 

How Can People Be Holy?

Apr 1, 2016 By Stephen A. Geller | Commentary | Shemini

Shemini (Lev. 9鈥�11) contains two main topics: the elaborate sacrificial rites performed on the eighth day of the dedication of the Tabernacle, and the laws regarding kosher and nonkosher animals. The first topic details the numerous sacrifices accompanying the last stages of the dedication of the shrine, which reach an intensity matched only by the yearly rites of the Day of Atonement. This is no accident, because the annual event is meant to restore the shrine to the purity it possessed on the day it was dedicated.