On Judaism and Islam
Sep 9, 2010 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Rosh Hashanah
Jews have prepared for the High Holiday season of repentance and renewal in 2010 with Muslims very much on our minds.
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The Graves of Our Ancestors
Oct 29, 2010 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah
I went to visit the graves of my parents the other day, and could not help but think鈥攚ith this Torah portion looming鈥攐f the times when I went with my father (whose name was Abraham, until he changed it) to visit my mother’s grave.
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Bearing Witness to Torah
Jan 22, 2011 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Yitro
Everything that precedes Sinai in the Torah’s narrative leads up to it. Everything that comes afterward鈥攊n the Torah, the Bible and Judaism as a whole鈥攆ollows from the fact of Covenant and works out its consequences for Israel and the world. Your life and mine are shaped by the account presented in this week’s parashah. I would like to suggest two major ways in which that is so.
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A Blessing of Reconciliation
Dec 19, 2014 By Lilly Kaufman | Commentary | Miketz
In Parashat Miketz, the masterful Joseph, hashalit al ha鈥檃retz (the sovereign of the land) engages in a series of tests of his brothers鈥� honesty. Also at stake is the resilience of their father Jacob鈥檚 legacies.
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Living into the Mission of Our Lives
Dec 5, 2014 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Vayishlah
What are our greatest fears?
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A New Question for Passover
Apr 16, 2011 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol | Pesah
The means to ultimate redemption鈥攁nd a sure sign that redemption has arrived鈥攊s peace between the generations. We can’t hope for redemption of the world, the prophet says, if the hearts of fathers and sons (the literal translation of the prophetic verse) are not “returned upon” each other.
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Sympathy for Korah
Jun 25, 2011 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Korah
I have a great deal of sympathy for Korah and his rebel faction, despite the fact that they made life difficult for Moses, Aaron, and God.
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Reclaiming Our Dreams
Nov 28, 2014 By Marc Gary | Commentary | Vayetzei
This week鈥檚 parashah, Vayetzei, covers a critical 20-year period in the life of our patriarch Jacob: the two decades that Jacob spends outside the Land of Israel, in Haran, in the house of his conniving uncle, Laban. They are years of treachery, deceit, exploitation, and fear. They are pivotal years in Jacob鈥檚 life鈥攜ears in which Jacob confronts who he is and sees in Laban what he will become if he doesn鈥檛 pull back from the abyss. In the words of Aviva Gottlieb Zornberg, this is 鈥渢he night of [Jacob鈥檚] soul.鈥� And, as if to drive this point home, the parashah begins with the setting of the sun and the onset of night, and ends with sunrise and the beginning of a new day.
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