The Last Day of Passover
Apr 14, 2012 By Alan Cooper | Commentary | Pesah
Of all the extra festival days that we celebrate in Diaspora (yom tov sheni shel galuyot), perhaps the most irksome is the eighth day of Pesah. The second day of Sukkot adds to the delight of the holiday when the weather cooperates; the second day of Shemini Atzeret brings us the joy of Simhat Torah as a day unto itself. Even the second seder has its pleasures, except perhaps for those who have to prepare the meal and clean up afterward. But the eighth day of Pesah? Enough already! Bring on the pizza and pasta.
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Regulating Holiness
May 12, 2012 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Emor
As much as we learn about ritual practice, the search for holiness, and Jewish belief from the litany of rules that unfold in these chapters within the Holiness Code, from the exceptions to those rules we can begin to understand how Judaism negotiates conflicting values. Sometimes, it is the exception to the rule that offers the deepest insight.
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Blessings From the Inside Out
May 19, 2012 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Behukkotai
One of the claims that seems to have been made at different moments in my Jewish education is that Judaism concerns itself with what a person does in the world, and not with what a person thinks. The Torah demands we pursue a life rightly lived over beliefs rightly held.
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Sacred Schlepping
May 26, 2012 By Andrew Shugerman | Commentary | Naso
Since making the transition from 91快播 student to 91快播 staff three years ago, I have regularly told my students and donors how a debt of gratitude to my alma mater fuels what I do now.
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Lifting Up Our Communities
Jun 2, 2012 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Naso
“Carrying capacity” might be a good explanation for our parashah’s title, Naso, which literally means, “lift up.” In these chapters God gives Moses precise orders for the leaders of the people鈥攂oth the clergy and the tribal chiefs. It ends with a somewhat stultifying litany of the identical offerings of the chieftains. This portion lacks exciting narratives, and yet there is a sense of vast power embedded in its orderly universe.
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Transactional and Transformational Leadership
Jun 9, 2012 By Andrew Shugerman | Commentary | Beha'alotekha
A close reading of Numbers 11 offers insights into the tensions that leaders today face in balancing the demands of self-interest with higher ideals for advancing the greater good.
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A Cord of Blue Fringe
Jun 16, 2012 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Shelah Lekha
A little blue thread has quietly woven its way back into our synagogue life. Its appearance was gradual, which makes its pervasive presence somewhat surprising. Strung from the corners of our tallitot, the thread of tekhelet intertwined with the white tzitzit threads has experienced a true renaissance in modern Jewish ritual. We learn of tekhelet from our parashah this week: “Speak to the Israelite people and instruct them to make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue to the fringe [p’til tekhelet] at each corner” (Num. 15:38).
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Reflective Learning in the Season of Teshuvah
Sep 12, 2014 By Jason Gitlin | Commentary | Ki Tavo
While the formal Hebrew title for each book of Torah is today derived from a word in its first verse, the Rabbis regularly employed a different logic: use a name that captured the book鈥檚 main theme.
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