麻豆原创

How Can People Be Holy?

Apr 1, 2016 By Stephen A. Geller | Commentary | Shemini

Shemini (Lev. 9鈥�11) contains two main topics: the elaborate sacrificial rites performed on the eighth day of the dedication of the Tabernacle, and the laws regarding kosher and nonkosher animals. The first topic details the numerous sacrifices accompanying the last stages of the dedication of the shrine, which reach an intensity matched only by the yearly rites of the Day of Atonement. This is no accident, because the annual event is meant to restore the shrine to the purity it possessed on the day it was dedicated.

Easing the Transition From Shabbat

Apr 1, 2016 By Shira D. Epstein | Commentary | Shemini

The parashah delineates several distinctions between holy and unholy: what constitutes an acceptable sacrifice; which animals fall within the category of kosher; the actions that might transition a vessel, oven, or garment to the status of unclean.

At the end of Shabbat, we invoke these same words during havdalah, praising God 鈥渨ho makes a distinction between holy and profane.鈥�

Free Speech vs. Hate Speech: The Changing Contours of Free Expression

Mar 28, 2016 By 麻豆原创 | Public Event video

Frederick M. Lawrence鈥擸ale Law School senior research scholar, past president of Brandeis University, and a leading  expert on civil rights, free expression, and bias crimes鈥攅xplores the boundaries of free expression in the 2016 Bernard G. Segal Memorial Lecture.

A Set Table

Mar 25, 2016 By Yonatan Dahlen | Commentary | Tzav

I try to bless
When I wear Your stars as my blanket;
My winter coat when days are dark
When life is a knife
Resting on the altar of time.

Creating I-Thou Moments That Strengthen Relationships, and Communities

Mar 18, 2016 By Stephanie Ruskay | Commentary | Pekudei

Semikhah, ordaining of clergy, is on my mind these days as we move closer to my first JTS ordination as an associate dean. No longer the person receiving semikhah, this time I am privileged to help ordain new clergy.

Purim Heroines

Mar 18, 2016 By Stefanie B. Siegmund | Commentary | Purim

I did not wear the crown and satiny dress, or stand in line for the beauty pageant. Queen Esther was not a role model I鈥攐r many other children鈥攃ould choose. Later, in the academy, I understood that Esther鈥檚 subterfuge and seduction were the strategies of the weak, the politics of the minority. 

Rabbinic Judaism: Space and Place

Mar 15, 2016 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event audio

In the aftermath of the conquest of the Holy Land by the Romans and their destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, Jews were faced with a world in existential chaos鈥攂oth they and their God were rendered homeless. In a religious tradition that equated Divine approval with peaceful dwelling on the Land, this situation was intolerable. In response, the Rabbis sought to build new 鈥渟tructures,鈥� new homes for both God and Israel. Rabbinic Judaism: Space and Place offers the first comprehensive study of spatiality in rabbinic Judaism, exploring how the Rabbis reoriented the Jewish relationship with space and place following the conquest and destruction.

The Call to Find a Mentor and to Mentor Others

Mar 11, 2016 By Mark Young | Commentary | Pekudei

In parashat Pekudei, the Israelites are on a journey to a new life, having escaped the Egyptians, experienced the revelation at Sinai, and completed the building of the Tabernacle. They are now in the wilderness, sometimes unclear about their direction, sometimes filled with fear, and in need of guidance. However, they had mentors to guide them. They had the cloud that indicated the Presence of God, and they had Moses on their side.

With God, It鈥檚 Complicated . . .

Mar 11, 2016 By Rami Schwartzer | Commentary | Pekudei

For a story that began with the promise of intimacy, I had hoped for a happier ending.

Imagining Community, Then and Now

Mar 4, 2016 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Vayak-hel

Anyone who has mounted a fund-raising campaign, or sought volunteers for an institution or organization, will immediately recognize the account of the Tabernacle鈥檚 construction in this week鈥檚 Torah portion as utopian in the extreme. 鈥淎ll the artisans . . . said to Moses, 鈥楾he people are bringing more than is needed for the task entailed in the work that the Lord has commanded to be done.鈥� Moses thereupon had this proclamation made throughout the camp: 鈥楲et no man or woman make further efforts toward gifts for the sanctuary!鈥� Their efforts had been more than enough for all the tasks to be done鈥� (Exod. 36:5鈥�7).

Artisan and Architect

Mar 4, 2016 By Barbara Mann | Commentary | Vayak-hel

Ben Uri looked at the work of his hands and was astonished at how the ark stood firm while he himself was like an empty vessel. His soul was sad and he broke out in tears.

鈥擲. Y. Agnon, Agunot

The Beautiful Possible: A Novel

Mar 2, 2016 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

A lively discussion with Amy Gottlieb on her epic debut novel The Beautiful Possible, in the vein of Nicole Krauss鈥檚 The History of Love. Gottlieb鈥檚 story follows a postwar love triangle between an American rabbi, his wife, and a German-Jewish refugee.

Who Wrote The Ten Commandments?

Feb 26, 2016 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Commentary | Ki Tissa

Where does our Torah come from? Did all the words of the Torah come from heaven, so that the Torah is a perfect divine work? If that is the case, then the tradition the Torah inaugurates is one that human beings should accept in its entirety without introducing any changes. Or is the Torah itself the result of human-divine collaboration? If that is the case, the tradition the Torah inaugurates may allow some change, at least by those Jews of each generation who accept the Torah and live by its commandments.

Bronze Bull, Golden Calf

Feb 26, 2016 By Tim Daniel Bernard | Commentary | Ki Tissa

The metal bovine with a peculiar magnetism that is known as the Golden Calf (Exod. 32) brings to mind Arturo Di Modica鈥檚 Charging Bull (1989). A potent Financial District icon, it exerts a remarkable pull on passersby (on its you can see the crowd so often around the statue). According to , it was designed as a 鈥渟ymbol of virility and courage鈥� and 鈥渢he perfect antidote to the Wall Street crash of 1986,鈥� but it was also created without the invitation of the Wall Street community and was promptly removed from its original location in front of the New York Stock Exchange.

The Clothes Make the Man

Feb 19, 2016 By Rachel Smith | Commentary | Tetzavveh

[The] unlikely alliance of diverse and superficially incompatible musical traditions, mysteriously accomplished under punk, found ratification in an equally eclectic clothing style which reproduced the same kind of cacophony on the visual level.
鈥�Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style, 26

Garments of Light

Feb 12, 2016 By Raymond Scheindlin | Commentary | Tetzavveh

Last week, we read God鈥檚 orders to Moses for the construction of the Tabernacle and its accoutrements. This week, our parashah continues on the subject of the Tabernacle and the preparations for starting the sacrificial cult, focusing on the Tabernacle鈥檚 personnel: the priests鈥攑articularly their vestments and the rituals for the priests鈥� consecration. These subjects will return, for after a week devoted largely to the story of the Golden Calf, the Torah will repeat the account of the Tabernacle nearly verbatim, not in the form of instructions for things to be made but as a narrative of their making.

Including the Broken

Feb 12, 2016 By Tobi Kahn | Commentary | Terumah

Arks in contemporary sanctuaries are spiritual descendants of the Ark whose construction and purpose is described in this week鈥檚 parashah. The ark above was created for Congregation Ohr Shalom鈥揟he Summit Jewish Community Center, in Summit, New Jersey.

Knowing the Feelings of the Stranger

Feb 5, 2016 By Marc Gary | Commentary | Mishpatim

This week鈥檚 parashah comprises a multitude of ordinances, providing an embarrassment of riches upon which to comment. Capital punishment, abortion, workers鈥� rights鈥攖o name just a few of the issues suggested by the parashah鈥攐ffer ample grist for the commentator鈥檚 mill. Yet in this political year, with all of its focus on immigration, refugees, and minority rights, it would seem almost churlish to avoid addressing one of the key themes of the Torah reading: the treatment of theger (stranger).

The Spirit and the Letter

Feb 5, 2016 By Yonatan Y. Brafman | Commentary | Mishpatim

After the heights of the revelation at Sinai, Parashat Mishpatim settles down to more mundane topics, including a lengthy discussion of torts. Perhaps motivated by this sudden change of altitude, Nahmanides interprets these details as expansions on the Ten Commandments, such as the prohibitions on coveting and theft: 鈥淔or if a man does not know the laws of the house and field or other possessions, he might think that they belong to him and thus covet them and take them for himself鈥�.

The Syrian Refugee Crisis: Realities and Responses

Feb 2, 2016 By 麻豆原创 | Public Event video

What are the realities on the ground in Syria and other affected countries? What are our responsibilities as individuals, as a country, and as a Jewish community? How do we fulfill the Jewish moral imperative of dealing compassionately with the stranger even as we ensure domestic security?