麻豆原创

The Working Life

Jun 6, 2014 By Lilly Kaufman | Commentary | Beha'alotekha

In my family, we are not the retiring type鈥攁lthough we do tend toward shyness.

Can the Center Hold?

May 30, 2014 By Marc Gary | Commentary | Naso

鈥淭hings fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world鈥�
鈥擶illiam Butler Yeats, 鈥淭he Second Coming鈥�

Last week, 麻豆原创 presented an honorary degree to Philip Roth, one of the greatest American writers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. The famous author must have received this recognition from an iconic Jewish institution with a certain measure of irony and satisfaction. After all, when his first book was published more than 50 years ago, an outraged American rabbi wrote to the Anti-Defamation League asking, 鈥渨hat is being done to silence that man?鈥�

Walking Together with God

May 16, 2014 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Behukkotai

I saw a strange thing on my walk to minyan the other morning.

Intent of a Question

Jan 8, 2011 By Eliezer B. Diamond z”l | Commentary | Bo | Pesah

Everyone knows that four children are mentioned in the Passover Haggadah and that one of them is the evil child. Probably fewer of us are aware that the question attributed to this child is a biblical verse found in this week’s Torah portion, “What do you mean by this rite (avodah)?” (Exod. 12:26). 

Boundary of the Wilderness

Jul 10, 2010 By Alan Mintz (<em>z”l</em>) | Commentary | Masei | Mattot

The Torah is replete with lists of every kind: the generations before and after Noah, the enumeration of the tribes and their chieftains in the desert, the catalogs of forbidden foods, the inventories of priestly garments.

Call Them by Their Names

May 2, 2014 By Joel Alter | Commentary | Emor

When I鈥檓 at a hotel over Shabbat, I have a set Friday afternoon ritual.

In the Wake of Tragedy

Apr 28, 2007 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim

In the immediate wake of tragedy, our response is appropriately silence. Aaron movingly illustrated this in the parashah from two weeks ago after he lost his sons, Nadav and Avihu. Following their shocking deaths, the Torah records Aaron’s response to Moses’ attempt at consolation simply as, “and Aaron was silent” (Leviticus 10:3). We cannot begin to imagine the sense of loss and disbelief that radiated from the depths of his soul when he learned his sons were destroyed by the God who ordained their service.

The Source of Hope

Jul 21, 2012 By Mychal Springer | Commentary | Masei | Mattot | Tishah Be'av

In a dramatic reversal of the ordinary mourning process, 鈥巜hich begins in its starkest intensity and lifts over time as the mourners are comforted, 鈥巘hese are weeks of increasing mourning that move, inevitably, to the destruction of 鈥嶨od’s house and the banishment of the People into exile. The prophetic readings drive 鈥巋ome that we have brought this horrible tragedy on ourselves.