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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Who鈥檚 Judging?
Aug 29, 2014 By Danielle Upbin | Commentary | Shofetim
In the opening verses of our Torah portion, the Israelites are commanded to establish a fair, impartial, and moral judicial system upon settling the Land of Israel.
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How to Practice Faith
Aug 22, 2014 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Re'eh
Watch a world-class athlete do something extraordinary, like somersault and twist through the air from a high diving platform or serve a tennis ball so fast down the line that it seems fired by a cannon.
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Waters of Uncertainty
Aug 15, 2014 By Alisa Braun | Commentary | Eikev
鈥淚f it doesn鈥檛 rain, we don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going to happen,鈥� commented a NASA water-cycle scientist recently on the drought that has been devastating California.
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The Comfort of Prayer
Aug 8, 2014 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Va'et-hannan
Parashat Va’et-hannan contains some of the most inspiring and sweepingly grand passages in the entire Torah, and some of the best known, including the Ten Commandments and the first paragraph of the Shema.
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The True Sin of Korah
Jun 23, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Korah
“Now Korah, son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, betook himself . . . ” These are the opening words of our parashah from Etz Hayim, the humash of the Conservative Movement, which uses a translation that generally avoids archaic English vocabulary and style. So, we should be puzzled that this translation employs a word that is certainly not a part of common usage. Why not simply say, “Now Korah took“?
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Living the Life Waiting for Us
Jul 7, 2012 By Rabbi Abigail Treu | Commentary | Balak
Each of us has our version of the story: the infertility, the divorce, the toilet flooding before the Rosh Hashanah guests arrive. Mentsch tracht, gott lacht: man plans, God laughs, as the Yiddish expression goes. Only, most of the time it really doesn’t seem so funny.
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