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Hearing the Scream

Dec 7, 2018 By Eliezer B. Diamond z”l | Commentary | Miketz

Perhaps no scream is more famous than the one portrayed in Edvard Munch鈥檚 painting popularly known simply as The Scream. The irony is that almost none of us is aware of the scream that Munch intended to portray.

Dying Whole and Living Whole

Dec 14, 2018 By Shayna Golkow | Commentary | Vayiggash

In a moment of joy, how many times have you said, 鈥淚鈥檓 so happy that I could die now,鈥� or 鈥淚f I died right now, I鈥檇 be satisfied!鈥� In a way, this reaction is counterintuitive; if we are so happy, why would we wish to die? But this reaction also comes naturally, because of our awareness that dying during a time of harmony and wholeness in our lives is the ideal.

Judah and Tamar: Writing the Story

Nov 30, 2018 By Judith Hauptman | Commentary | Vayeshev

One of the most gripping stories in the entire Bible appears in this week鈥檚 parashah. Chapter 38, a self-contained unit, interrupts the ongoing Joseph saga to tell the story of Judah and Tamar.

Why Religion?

Nov 16, 2018 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Vayetzei

Big picture: What is religion trying to do in the world?

Maimonides claims that the aim of Torah is the creation of lives and communities that manifest 鈥渕ercy, loving-kindness, and peace鈥� (The Laws of Shabbat, 2:3). All of the commandments, the entirety of our wisdom tradition, seeks to create people who鈥攖hrough their actions鈥攂ring more love, sensitivity, and peace into the world.

Two Nations Struggling in the Womb

Nov 9, 2018 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Toledot

The map of the United States is divided almost equally between red and blue as I write this column on the morning after the 2018 midterm elections. The Republicans have increased their majority in the Senate, and lost their majority in the House. Many races were too close to call far into the evening, and were decided in the end by the narrowest of margins鈥攅ven as the two major parties and their supporters apparently stand farther apart from one another than at any time in recent memory. The results confirm the widespread view that Americans have rarely been less united.

Falling Wisely

Nov 2, 2018 By Sarah Wolf | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah

Hayyei Sarah offers us a scene straight out of a romantic comedy. By the middle of the parashah, Rebekah has agreed to follow Abraham鈥檚 servant back to Canaan, where she will meet and marry Isaac. Rebekah and the servant near their destination on camelback as the afternoon draws to a close, and Isaac is wandering in the fields. The mood is set for an elegant and romantic first meeting.

The Legacy of Sodom

Oct 26, 2018 By Steven Philp | Commentary | Vayera

Following the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra, Lot and his two daughters flee to the mountains above Zoar. They are stricken with fear, having witnessed the devastation of the two cities. They grieve the dead, a vast number that includes Lot鈥檚 wife, the mother of the two women, who鈥攈aving paused to look back toward Sodom鈥攚as turned into a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:23鈥�26). It is necessary to understand the emotional frame within which they are operating, as it underlies the following narrative.

Abram the Hebrew

Oct 19, 2018 By Jonathan Sarna | Commentary | Lekh Lekha

鈥淚 believe we have not yet appointed a Hebrew,鈥� President Abraham Lincoln wrote on November 4, 1862, to his secretary of war, Edwin M. Stanton, amidst the Civil War. Partly to rectify that imbalance, he agreed to appoint Cheme (Cherie) Moise Levy, the son-in-law of Rabbi Morris J. Raphall of New York鈥檚 Congregation B鈥檔ai Jeshurun, to be an assistant quarter-master with the rank of captain. This may have been the first example of 鈥渁ffirmative action鈥� in all of American Jewish history.