The Journey
Jun 21, 2024 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Beha'alotekha
In other words, the path forward is never clear, and God isn鈥檛 a divine GPS. Revelation and faith shape our vision of where we want to go; they offer a compass pointing to true north, orienting us in the general direction of that vision. But to get there, we need maps, road signs, traffic signals, and human guides with a variety of expertise鈥攔eligious and secular.
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What Blessing Do You Need Now?
Jun 14, 2024 By Andrea Merow | Commentary | Naso
In Parashat Naso we learn the blessing used by so many, calledbirkat kohanim, the blessing of the priests. Amid our longestparashah, nestled between laws of the Nazirites and final preparations for how to use the Tabernacle, our holy space, God teaches that people can use their words and actions to bless one another, all while noting that our blessings come from The Holy One.
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Becoming Like the Wilderness
Jun 7, 2024 By Eitan Fishbane | Commentary | Bemidbar | Shavuot
With the start of Sefer Bemidbar, the narrative of the Torah turns to the long journey of Benei Yisrael through the wilderness鈥攑unishment for the sin of the Golden Calf and preparation for entry into the Land of Israel. Passage into the sacred terrain first requires an arduous ordeal of wandering鈥攁 physical process of movement and quest. Penitence, pilgrimage, and transformation are anchoredin the space of wilderness.
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The Terrifying Third Aliyah of Behukkotai
May 31, 2024 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Commentary | Behukkotai | Shavuot
Why do we continue to read such horrible curses, and another passage much like it in Parashat Ki Tavo (Deut. 28:1鈥�68), each year? The simplest answer is that we read the entirety of the Torah each year, omitting nothing. However, the Mishnah (Megillah 3:6) already notes something special about the curses of the Leviticus passage: 鈥淭he section of curses must not be broken up but must all be read by one person.鈥�
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What Can a Bird and a Seed Teach Us About Shemitah?
May 24, 2024 By Yael Hammerman | Commentary | Behar
In Parashat Behar, God tells the Israelites that when they enter the land that God will give them, 鈥渢he Land shall observe a Sabbath of the Adonai鈥濃�攙eshavta ha鈥檃retz Shabbat l鈥橝donai (Lev. 25:2). This becomes known as the shemitah year. For six years, you can work to your heart鈥檚 content鈥攜ou can sow, prune, and gather, but in the seventh year, the land shall have a full, complete rest: shabbat shabbaton yihiyeh la鈥檃retz (Lev. 25:4)!
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Are We Just Speaking, or Truly Communicating?
May 17, 2024 By Loraine Enlow | Commentary | Emor
Perhaps the breaking of the formula for our parashah鈥檚 irregular emor is about more than just words. Using its characteristic wordplay, the Midrash connects the parashah鈥檚 emor here to omer in Psalm 19:3 (spelled the same way, but as a poetic noun): 鈥渄ay to day utters speech (omer), and night to night reveals knowledge.鈥� It explains that the day and the night are negotiating the giving and borrowing of time from each other to create the cycles of the year between the equinoxes. Reading the next verse in the psalm, we see 鈥渢here is no speech (omer) . . .鈥� Or as the Midrash puts it, 鈥渢hey pay each other back harmoniously, without a contract.鈥�
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What Do the Dead Know?
May 3, 2024 By Jonathan Boyarin | Commentary | Aharei Mot
This week鈥檚 Torah portion begins with the words 鈥渁fter the death,鈥� referring to the death of Aaron鈥檚 sons Nadab and Abihu. I appreciate the chance to contribute this week鈥檚 commentary, since I鈥檓 currently teaching a course titled 鈥淒eath, Dying, and the Dead鈥� at 91快播. Much of the course is about Jewish death rituals, but I also aim to convince my students that Jewishness per se is inconceivable without some notion of the continuing presence of the dead in the world of the living. The tradition for the most part seems to take this continued presence for granted, though questions arose about exactly how it manifests.
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In Each and Every Generation
Apr 19, 2024 By Burton L. Visotzky | Commentary | Pesah
Twice in the Passover liturgy we hear the phrase, 鈥渋n each and every generation.鈥� We are taught that 鈥渋n each and every generation a person is obligated to see himself as though he had participated in the Exodus from Egypt.鈥� On the other hand, we are reminded that 鈥渋n each and every generation they arise against us to destroy us.鈥� The consolation is that The Holy, blessed be God, presumably saves us from their hands.
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