Serve God With Joy
Feb 20, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
I recall reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer while in elementary school, and being stumped by a description of the powerful singing in church of 鈥淥ld Hundred.鈥� What might this 鈥淥ld Hundred鈥� be, and why was it being sung in church with such fervor? Eventually, I found out that this was Psalm 100, and was sung by the community as it learned that Tom Sawyer was alive, and had mischievously staged his own disappearance.
Read More
Parts of a Whole
Feb 20, 2013 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Tetzavveh | Purim
A strange fact about being human: we never see any object in its entirety. We perceive in three dimensions, but see only in two so that our seeing is always at the mercy of our believing.
Read More
Clothing Ourselves in Sanctity
Feb 20, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Tetzavveh | Purim
Clothing offers keen insight in two complementary directions. First, the garments one wears reveals one鈥檚 personality.
Read More
How We Can Build the Synagogue of the Future
Feb 13, 2013 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Terumah
If you care deeply about the present and future state of the synagogue, as I do, it鈥檚 difficult to resist the temptation to draw lessons from the remarkable vision of communal worship set forth in this week鈥檚 Torah portion. I do not intend to resist. Three aspects of the divine plan for the Tabernacle strike me as particularly relevant to our contemporary situation.
Read More
鈥淔ill Our Eyes with Light . . . Cause Our Heart to Cling鈥� (Part 2)
Feb 13, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Last week we looked at the phrase 鈥�ha鈥檈r eyenynu鈥� (Fill our eyes with the light of Your Torah), and now let us look more closely at the continuation of the same sentence: 鈥渧edabek libeinu bemitzvotekha鈥� (and make our hearts cleave to Your mitzvot) [Siddur Sim Shalom Daily, 32].
Read More
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves
Feb 12, 2013 By Raymond Scheindlin | Commentary | Purim
How is it possible to tell a story of redemption without even once mentioning the name of God?
Read More
Little Purim
Feb 12, 2013 By 91快播 | Podcast or Radio Program | Purim
A 1951 episode of “The Eternal Light” radio program about a boy and his violin on Purim.
Read More
Purim: The Triumph of Understanding Over Hatred
Feb 12, 2013 By 91快播 | Podcast or Radio Program | Purim
Taken from the archives of “The Eternal Light” radio program, this 1954 commentary on Purim is delivered by Murray Bellow, a noted civic leader of the time.
Read More
The Laws of Passover
Feb 11, 2013 By Isaac Klein | Pesah
From: A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice
Read More
The Laws of Purim
Feb 11, 2013 By Isaac Klein | Purim
From: A Guide to Jewish Religiious Practice
Read More
“Truthiness” in the Bible
Feb 7, 2013 By Robert Harris | Video Lecture
What the Bible Means, What it Meant, and Why the Difference Matters: A recorded live stream lunch and learn
Taking Time to Be There
Feb 6, 2013 By Lisa Gelber | Commentary | Mishpatim
Moses needs time to immerse himself in the law and his relationship with God. He needs to experience what it meant to climb this mountain, literally and figuratively. If he didn鈥檛 yet know that, God did.
Read More
鈥淔ill Our Eyes With Light . . . Cause Our Hearts to Cling鈥� (Part 1)
Feb 5, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Phrases in the siddur are filled with echoes of earlier texts and give birth to newer metaphors and meanings. The blessing immediately before the Shema鈥� in every morning service contains the phrase 鈥�ha鈥檈r eyneinu beToratekha vedabek libeinu bemitzvotekha鈥� (Fill our eyes with the light of Your Torah, and make our hearts cleave to Your mitzvot.) [Siddur Sim Shalom, 32.]
Read More
The Curious Case of the Slave Who Refuses Freedom
Feb 5, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Mishpatim
Coming on the heels of the Revelation at Sinai, Parashat Mishpatim opens with laws concerning slaves.
Read More
Finding God in the Darkness
Feb 5, 2013 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Short Video | Va'era
A video Torah commentary.
Read More
How They Knocked the Devil Out of Uncle Ezra
Feb 5, 2013 By 91快播 | Podcast or Radio Program
What happens when a child is too smart for their own good? Find out in this humorous 1949 broadcast of The Eternal Light radio program.
Read More
Warfare in the 21st Century: 5 Questions with General Norton A. Schwartz
Feb 4, 2013
Has the fundamental nature of war changed? Should Jewish values play in how and when we engage in conflict? General Norton A. Schwartz discusses this regarding warfare in the 21st century.
Read More
Blessings
Jan 30, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
The famous Priestly Blessing (Num. 6: 24鈥�26) is an ambiguous text in our liturgy that appears in various guises. It is presented as a selection for study from the Written Torah each morning (Siddur Sim Shalom for Weekdays, 5), and is chanted by the leader of the service at the end of the 鈥楢尘颈诲补丑 (43). The text presents the Torah verses as a memory:
Read More
How We Believe in God
Jan 30, 2013 By Eliezer B. Diamond z”l | Commentary | Yitro
The Mishnah and the two Talmuds mostly address details of Jewish observance; they rarely discuss the purpose of individual commandments, nor how the mitzvot mesh to create an integrated religious ethos.
Read More
Decimation and Affirmation: A Tale of Two Non-Israelites
Jan 30, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Beshallah
The opening of this week鈥檚 Torah reading, Parashat Yitro, stands in stark contrast to the conclusion of last week鈥檚 parashah, Beshallah.
Read More
SUBSCRIBE TO TORAH FROM 91快播
Our regular commentaries and videos are a great way to stay intellectually and spiritually engaged with Jewish thought and wisdom.