God鈥檚 Earth: Between Blessing and Curse
May 15, 2015 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Behar | Behukkotai
Here is Leviticus鈥攊n many ways the most intimate of the Torah鈥檚 five books, because it usually meets us frail, mortal, human beings where we live, in our skins and with our families, in private spaces of home and tabernacle鈥攊nstructing us as a society, as a species, that divine blessings of rain and sun will turn to curses if we do not do our part in stewarding God鈥檚 earth properly. The text insists that a fateful choice is in our hands. And it seems far from confident that we will make the choice wisely.
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Covenant and Cattle
Jul 17, 2015 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Masei | Mattot
As the Children of Israel prepare to enter the Promised Land, their backs to the wilderness after 40 years of wandering, the Torah, too, seems to change direction鈥攁nd even tone. It trades instructions for the priests and narratives of Israelite disobedience for details of land distribution, inheritance and other laws that will regulate life inside the Land. It is as if the Torah wants to underline the transition about to occur鈥攆rom wilderness to settlement, disorder to order鈥攂y changing the visual image before the reader鈥檚 eyes.
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Love in Hiding
Sep 11, 2015 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Vayeilekh
When I prepared to chant Parashat Vayeilekh at my Bar Mitzvah, I don鈥檛 think I paid much attention to the theological import of the announcement that God would 鈥渉ide My countenance鈥� from the children of Israel. Nor is it likely that I felt the pathos of Moses giving up the mantle of leadership, on the far side of the Jordan, as his life鈥檚 journey came to an end.
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Why Did God Flood the World?
Oct 1, 2013 By Alan Cooper | Commentary | Noah
The end of Parashat Bereishit finds God regretting the creation of humankind and resolving to wipe it out along with 鈥渂easts, creeping things, and birds of the sky鈥� (Gen. 6:7). A note of optimism creeps into the concluding verse (6:8), however, with the statement that Noah, whose birth and naming were noted in 5:29, 鈥渇ound favor鈥� with God.
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Species Purity and the Great Flood
Oct 24, 2014 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Noah
Omnicide is a dramatic move, on that we can all agree. But what causes the Creator to grow violently disgusted with the creatures that had just recently been praised as 鈥済ood鈥� and blessed with fertility?
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Minding Our Words
Oct 17, 2014 By Anne Lapidus Lerner | Commentary | Bereishit
On Simhat Torah, we complete the reading of the humash鈥攁ll 79,796 Hebrew words of it鈥攁nd when we鈥檙e done, what do we do? We roll it up to the very beginning and start to read it all over again. Words, words, words. Devarim (Deuteronomy)鈥攚hich, of course, means 鈥�words鈥濃�攅nds with Moses鈥檚 death after the conclusion of his lengthy final oration; Bereishit opens with God demonstrating the power of words by creating the world with them.
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Joseph, Hanukkah, and the Dilemmas of Assimilation
Dec 11, 2015 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Miketz | Hanukkah
Ruminations about assimilation come naturally to Jews in North America during the winter holiday season. How much should a parent insist that Hanukkah is part of public school celebrations that give students a heavy dose of Christmas? How often should one remind store clerks who innocently ask Jewish children which gifts they hope to receive from Santa this year that there are other faiths observed in our communities, and other holidays?
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The Values of a Jewish Home
Dec 5, 2015 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayeshev
A few weeks ago, Etgar Keret, an accomplished author on the Israeli literary scene, made a pilgrimage from his home in Tel Aviv to 91快播鈥檚 Schocken Institute in Jerusalem to address a group of rabbinical students from 91快播 and HUC. Among the many thoughtful and reflective insights he shared, he spoke of the need for Israeli society to reflect the best of Jewish values.
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