麻豆原创

Speaking of Exodus: Beshallah

Jan 29, 2021 By David G. Roskies | Commentary | Beshallah

My mother, Vilna-born, spoke a very idiomatic Yiddish. When she wanted to convey how delicious something was she would say: 鈥�ketsa-PIKH-is bi-DVASH.鈥� Although I studied Sefer Shemot in seventh grade, in a Yiddish day school, it wasn鈥檛 until my first year as a member of Havurat Shalom, where we read, translated, and subjected the weekly parashah to open debate, that I was able to identify the source of this delicious expression: 鈥淭he house of Israel named it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and it tasted like wafers in honey鈥� (Exod. 16:31).

To Destroy and to Overthrow, to Build and to Plant

Jan 15, 2021 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Commentary | Va'era

For me, this is one of the most troubling passages in the Torah. First, God assigns Moses and Aaron the task of speaking to Pharaoh, explicitly calling Aaron a prophet. Presumably, a prophet tells people what could come to pass, so that they have the opportunity to repent their sins and turn toward God. 

Sworn to Sacred Service

Jan 22, 2021 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Bo

The most powerful ritual in American life is the oath of office administered to our President. The text is prescribed by the Constitution, but its choreography is a matter of convention. Most Presidents have placed their left hand on a Bible as they raise their right and swear to execute their office faithfully, to 鈥減reserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.鈥� This ritual signals solemnity and anticipation for the work awaiting our new leader.

Guided by the Covenant

Jan 8, 2021 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Shemot

There is a wonderful midrash in Pesikta Derav Kahana that suggests a profound relationship between the arrival of the manna described in Parashat Beshallah and the giving of the Ten Commandments recounted in the following parashah, Yitro. Just as the manna tasted different to each and every Israelite, Rabbi Yosi teaches, so each was enabled according to his or her particular capacity to hear the Divine Word differently at Sinai (12:25).

In Every Place

Jan 1, 2021 By Rafi Cohen | Commentary | Vayehi

Just about anyone who has moved homes will agree that sometimes one place will take on outsize influence in our lives. Indeed, even environments in which we鈥檝e only briefly resided can have a resounding impact on our upbringing and outlook.

A Song of Hope

Dec 25, 2020 By Burton L. Visotzky | Commentary | Vayiggash

In a curious foreshadowing of the book of Exodus, in this week鈥檚 Torah reading (Gen. 46:8) we read, 鈥�Ve鈥檈leh shemot鈥擳hese are the names of the children of Israel who came into Egypt . . .鈥� This is verbatim the same report as the opening verse of the book of Exodus. But there, the names are limited only to Jacob鈥檚 actual sons, and the full enumeration of their own offspring is absent.

Strangers to Ourselves

Dec 18, 2020 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Miketz

The Joseph narrative contains a striking number of contranyms鈥攚ords that simultaneously convey opposite meanings. Why?

Contranyms are a natural linguistic expression of the Torah鈥檚 insistence that a 鈥渂oth/and鈥� perspective is essential to understanding deep truths, other people, and ourselves. The portrayal of Joseph is a prime example.

Miracles of Today

Dec 11, 2020 By Shuly Rubin Schwartz | Commentary | Hanukkah

One of the things I love most about Jewish holiday observances is their evolution over time and space even as core rituals remain. Hanukkah exemplifies this phenomenon. Established by the Hasmoneans to commemorate the victory of the Maccabees over Antiochus, Hanukkah in the Talmud (composed several centuries after these events) focuses on celebrating the miracle of the Temple oil lasting for eight days. With few prescribed mitzvot associated with the holiday, Hanukkah has long been ripe for creative interpretation: theological, sociological, culinary, musical, and artistic. The Hanukkiah itself illustrates its generativity, for it has been hewn from the humblest potato or the most ornate, intricately designed sterling silver; it can take the form of a tiny travel jigsaw puzzle or an enormous outdoor display.