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Discovering Love at Dawn

Jan 15, 2016 By Benjamin Resnick | Commentary | Bo

The photograph above鈥攎y last before becoming a parent鈥攚as taken early in the morning on January 7, 2015, the coldest day of a very young year. In my imagination, Jonah was born just after, as the sun was rising over the city. In reality, he was not. He was born at 11:11a.m., when the sun was already high in the sky. But, like the Doe of the Morning, I remember him coming at dawn.

Words Fail Me

Jan 8, 2016 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Va'era

This common idiom鈥攕o casually tossed off in a moment of surprise鈥攅xpresses a deep truth. Words do indeed fail us, sometimes to tragic effect. 

That is the way the Zohar (the foundational text of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism) understands our exile in Egypt: as the exile of speech, a failure of words. In this reading, the breakdown of speech is both cause and effect of our enslavement, while healing and redeeming speech鈥攆inding our voice鈥攊s both the process and hallmark of redemption. 

God-naming

Jan 8, 2016 By Reuven Greenvald | Commentary | Va'era

鈥淎nd God spoke to Moshe, and [God] said to him: I am YHVH. I appeared to Avraham, to Yitzhak, and to Ya鈥檃kov as El Shaddai, but by my name YHVH I was not known to them鈥� (Exodus 6:2鈥�3).

When God shifts from using the ancient El Shaddai (usually translated as 鈥淕od Almighty鈥�) to YHVH, meaning, 鈥淚 will be what I will be,鈥� the divine-human relationship becomes more intimate.  

Hope and the Unknown

Jan 2, 2016 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Shemot

As legend has it, my great-grandfather quit school after the eighth grade. Apparently this decision had little to do with academics: my Grandpa Harry, 锄鈥漧, was a smart man who went on to become a successful furrier with his own business in Manhattan. No, apparently it had everything to do with social pressure. As legend has it, he walked into school on the first day of the ninth grade, realized that no one at his new school knew him, and walked out.

The Landscape of Revelation

Jan 2, 2016 By Eitan Fishbane | Commentary | Shemot

“Our age is retrospective. It builds the sepulchres of the fathers. . .The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs?鈥�”

Blessings From Love

Dec 25, 2015 By Joel Alter | Commentary | Vayehi

Given all that鈥檚 come before in Genesis, the Torah鈥檚 notice that Israel鈥檚 days are nearing their end brings dread. This stems not from fear of death, but a dread of blessing. The passing of a patriarch means that a scene of generational blessing is imminent.

Mourning for Joseph

Dec 25, 2015 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Commentary | Vayehi

Joseph and Zulaykha was written by Ja虅mi虅, a Persian poet and adherent of the mystical tradition of Islam (Sufism). It is based on the biblical story of Joseph and the wife of the Egyptian courtier, Potiphar (she is known as Zulaykha in Muslim tradition).

A Tale of Two Dreamers

Dec 18, 2015 By Eliezer B. Diamond z”l | Commentary | Vayiggash

Shortly after Jacob arrives in Egypt Joseph鈥攗ndoubtedly eager to introduce his father and his patron to each other鈥攁rranges an audience with Pharaoh for his father. Following the time honored traditions of polite conversation, Pharaoh asks a prosaic question: 鈥淗ow many are the years of your life?鈥�

Judah鈥檚 Story, Our Stories, and the Stories of Refugees

Dec 17, 2015 By Julia Andelman | Commentary | Vayiggash

They grabbed me and led me to a van. I told them: 鈥業鈥檓 an old man. I鈥檓 not a threat.鈥� But they didn鈥檛 listen. On our way to the prison, they kept stopping on the street and collecting more people. They blindfolded me when we arrived and they beat me very badly. Then they put me with seventy other people in a room smaller than this one. It was very cold because it was December and I was barefoot because I鈥檇 lost my slippers. 

Joseph’s Feast

Dec 11, 2015 By Michael R. Boino | Commentary | Miketz

In Joseph鈥檚 Feast, Joseph struggles with his family trauma as well as his desire for familial love. The title as well as some of the content of the poem alludes to Belshazzar鈥檚 feast as told in the Book of Daniel (Chapter Five).

Joseph, Hanukkah, and the Dilemmas of Assimilation

Dec 11, 2015 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Miketz | Hanukkah

Ruminations about assimilation come naturally to Jews in North America during the winter holiday season. How much should a parent insist that Hanukkah is part of public school celebrations that give students a heavy dose of Christmas? How often should one remind store clerks who innocently ask Jewish children which gifts they hope to receive from Santa this year that there are other faiths observed in our communities, and other holidays?

The Values of a Jewish Home

Dec 5, 2015 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayeshev

A few weeks ago, Etgar Keret, an accomplished author on the Israeli literary scene, made a pilgrimage from his home in Tel Aviv to 91快播鈥檚 Schocken Institute in Jerusalem to address a group of rabbinical students from 91快播 and HUC. Among the many thoughtful and reflective insights he shared, he spoke of the need for Israeli society to reflect the best of Jewish values. 

Redemption in the Dark Pit

Dec 5, 2015 By Jason Gitlin | Commentary | Vayeshev

Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.

Homecoming

Nov 24, 2015 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Commentary | Vayishlah

In Parashat Vayishlah, Jacob returns to the Land of Canaan after a long absence and finds trouble rather than the comforts of home. He prepares to meet his estranged and potentially violent brother.

Face to Face

Nov 24, 2015 By Anne Lapidus Lerner | Commentary | Vayishlah

The tortured relationship between the twin brothers Esau and Jacob has been a significant element in the two previous parshiyot鈥擳oledot and Vayetze. It is resolved in this week鈥檚 parashah, Vayishlah. Although there is no peace treaty, the resolution is deeply desired by both brothers and reflected both in the undoing of the language that started the problem and in the brothers鈥� truly seeing and acknowledging each other.

Family

Nov 18, 2015 By Burton L. Visotzky | Commentary | Vayetzei

This week鈥檚 Torah reading, Vayetzei (Genesis 28:10-32:2), opens and closes with flights of angels accompanying our forefather Jacob (aka Israel, though, he won鈥檛 get named that until next week), as he flees from and returns to the Promised Land. When Jacob leaves, he is running in fear for his life. For our father Jacob has cheated his macho older brother Esau once too often, so much so that he has threatened to kill him. Of course, Esau isn鈥檛 that much older, for the two brothers are twins. But as any set of twins will tell you, the one who came first, even if by mere seconds鈥攖hat one is the elder. We might assume, along with the Bible, that birth-order matters. But Genesis is all about the younger supplanting the older and we are on solid ground suggesting that this sibling rivalry stuff is at the very heart of this week鈥檚 Torah lesson.

“And Shall We Do It?”

Nov 15, 2015 By Louis Polisson | Commentary | Vayetzei

It is not in Heaven
And I did not know
I said: “Who shall go up for us to heaven?
I don’t want to, I don’t care
I don’t understand…”

Reimagining a Fixed Image

Nov 13, 2015 By Allison Kestenbaum | Commentary | Toledot

When I read Toledot, I can鈥檛 help but have in mind a painting called 鈥淛acob and Esau鈥� by Jose de Ribera. I studied this painting while taking an art history class at the Prado Museum in Madrid many years ago. It is so vivid in my imagination that not only can I recall most of the details, I also can remember the exact location of the painting in the museum. The painting is known for its lifelike depiction of fabrics and the sheep skin on Jacob鈥檚 arm used to trick his father.

Giving Blessings on a Full Stomach

Nov 13, 2015 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Toledot

Some stories are rich with visual imagery, while others resound with song. But it is fragrance, specifically the smell of savory food, which infuses Parashat Toledot. Food plays an essential role in several pivotal scenes. It is with a pot of lentil stew that Jacob purchases Esau鈥檚 birthright, and it is with a steak dinner that he secures the senior blessing from his father. The first story is simple鈥擡sau is famished and ready to trade away anything for a bowl of soup. But the second story is enormously complex.

Worn Torn

Nov 6, 2015 By Amichai Lau-Lavie | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah

“Abraham mourned and wept for Sarah.” (Gen. 23)

Did he rip his clothes? And what did Isaac do when hearing that his mother died?

I think of him this year as the verse in “the Life of Sarah” leaps again beyond the Speaking Scroll, an annual review of loss and mourning. Just about a year ago my father died. In the moments following the news, alone in a hotel, far away from anyone and anywhere, my first instinct was to tear my shirt, observing 鈥�办别谤颈鈥檃.鈥�