Parenting Lessons from the Priests
May 21, 2021 By Abigail Uhrman | Commentary | Naso
It is a beautiful moment in this week鈥檚 parashah: God asks Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons to bless B鈥檔ei Yisrael on God鈥檚 behalf. Not only is the sentiment and poetry of the priestly blessing stirring in and of itself, but given its use in contemporary religious life, it carries even further resonance. In Jewish households across the world, parents offer this blessing to their children as part of their Friday night ritual. In my own experience, I have vivid memories of my grandparents and parents blessing me and my sisters with these words, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to do the same for my children each Shabbat. Those few precious moments鈥攚here my husband and I get to hold each of our kids, whisper these ancient verses, and kiss them 鈥淪habbat shalom鈥濃�攈ave become a sacred occasion in our home. I鈥檝e repeated these phrases now over many weeks and years and, at times, with little thought to the meaning behind the words. A closer reading of the text, though, has affirmed for me some essential parenting lessons.
Read More
Counting the Moments
May 14, 2021 By Shuly Rubin Schwartz | Commentary | Shavuot
Among the many ways that the pandemic has impacted us this past year has been our relationship to the passage of time. On the one hand, time felt like a blur, with one day bleeding into another. Save for Shabbat, each day looked like the day before and the day after. We wore the same clothes and interacted face-to-face with the same few people in our pods. We sharply curtailed, cancelled, or postponed the life-cycle celebrations, sporting events, live performances, and travel that would normally punctuate our year. Our lives constricted dramatically, as did our hopes and dreams, and even if we were fortunate enough not to suffer illness, death, or job loss, many of us experienced a sense of monotony or diminishment.
Read More
Why Do Jews Still Adhere to the Torah鈥檚 Covenant?
May 7, 2021 By Jeremy Tabick | Commentary | Behar | Behukkotai
Why do we, as Jews, have fealty to the Torah? Why do many of us feel bound by the Torah鈥檚 laws?
Read More
Struggling to Celebrate
Apr 30, 2021 By Naomi Kalish | Commentary | Emor
While Parashat Emor contains one of the Torah鈥檚 discussions of holidays and instructions for their observances, rabbinic literature provides guidance for their observance in the context of the complexities of the participants鈥� lives, even those who might be struggling to celebrate.
Read More
The Palace of Torah Expanded: 15 Years Later
Apr 23, 2021 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim
For many modern readers, engaging with Torah presents a paradox. Biblical and rabbinic voices reaching us from the distant past are like starlight emitted millennia ago鈥攂rilliant and often shockingly current, but also artifacts from light sources that may have dimmed or even expired. This paradox can be constructive, drawing modern readers out of our own cultural assumptions, challenging us to notice wonders that we might otherwise miss. The Torah鈥檚 poetry, its stirring demands for justice, and its vast system of devotional rites prime us for faith and sanctity. And when we encounter a Torah text that rings false or hurtful, we may use that encounter to clarify our own understanding, to articulate our community鈥檚 sacred values.
Read More
The Values of a Jewish Home
Apr 16, 2021 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Metzora | Tazria | Yom Hazikaron-Yom Ha'atzma'ut
In the precious days 鈥淏efore the Coronavirus Era鈥� (B.C.E.), the parshiyot of Tazria-Metzora seemed wholly disconnected from our lives, presenting the perennial challenge of relevance (or irrelevance) to even the most talented darshan (sermonizer). How are we to connect leprous plagues attacking both body and abode to our daily lives? And to what extent does the experience of quarantine resonate with our modern reality? These are only two of the many questions that we would have posed in a pre-Covid world.
The Seed of the Rabbinic Revolution
Apr 9, 2021 By | Commentary | Shemini
How important is intention in Jewish law? Do I need to be mentally present when performing commandments, or is it enough to go through the motions and get it done? How often does the Torah care about what I鈥檓 thinking? For many of us the answers to these questions would seem obvious: Of course, God demands active engagement with the commandments! Why are mitzvot worth doing if I鈥檓 not going to be mindful in their performance? In reality, these answers are a product of the revolutionary interpretations of the Torah by the early rabbinic sages.
Read More
Learning from God to Anticipate the Reactions of Others
Apr 2, 2021 By Walter Herzberg | Commentary | Pesah
Why do we eat matzah on Passover? According to the instructions that God conveyed to Israel prior to the Exodus we eat matzah because we are commanded: 鈥淪even days you shall eat unleavened bread (matzot)鈥� (Exod. 12:15). However, according to Exod. 12:39, where the narrative of the events is related, we eat matzah because the Israelites, having been driven out of Egypt, were unable to linger to allow time for the dough to rise: 鈥淎nd they baked unleavened cakes (matzot) . . . because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry.鈥� If so, why does the Torah present the mitzvah (the command) before the Exodus has actually taken place?
Read More