Reverence for Contradictory Texts
Feb 5, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Mishpatim | Shabbat Shekalim
Sometimes the smallest of words contains the largest of meanings.
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The Power to Serve
Jan 29, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Yitro
Judaism is an elaborate way of relating to God as the source of existence and the provider of ultimate meaning.
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Human Experiences of the Divine
Jan 8, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Va'era
Maimonides’ incomparable twelfth-century code of Jewish law opens with a resounding theological preamble, “The basic principle of all basic principles and the pillar of all sciences is to realize that there is a First Being who brought every existing thing into being” (Isadore Twersky, A Maimonides Reader, 43).
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Zebulun, Issachar and the Importance of Jewish Education
Dec 25, 2004 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayehi
The enterprise of Jewish education, on which the future of the Jewish people rests, has always been a partnership between educators and patrons.
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Cultivating an Ethic of Responsibility
Dec 18, 2004 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayiggash
Jewish history unfolds as a dialectic between exile and homeland.
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Conversion: Then and Now
Nov 27, 2004 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayishlah
During my recent visit to Israel, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a decision of great import on the subject of conversion.
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The Evolution of Judaism’s Moral Conscience
Nov 20, 2004 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayetzei
Why does Jacob abandon the security of his parents home in Beer-sheba?
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Drinking the Waters of Torah
Nov 13, 2004 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Toledot
In rabbinic parlance, water stands for Torah.
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