91快活林

Memory and the Exodus from Egypt

Jan 11, 2019 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Bo

Zakhor鈥擱emember this day, on which you went free from Egypt, from the house of bondage, for with a mighty hand Adonai brought you forth from this . . . (Exod. 13:3).

The Exodus from Egypt is the first of several things the Torah commands us to remember (zakhor). What does it mean to remember, and how do we accomplish it?

Seventh haftarah of consolation

Sep 7, 2018 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Ki Tetzei

We might expect that for the seventh and final haftarah of comfort, the Sages would have chosen a passage recounting complete redemption. Instead, we are given a vision of the removing of obstacles, and the building of a solid foundation, to permit a path forward. Two such obstacles鈥斺�渞ocks鈥� to be removed鈥攁re highlighted.

Sixth haftarah of consolation

Aug 31, 2018 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Ki Tetzei

In the sixth haftarah of consolation, Isaiah draws heavily on the metaphor of light and darkness, and the repair and redemption is imagined as individuals鈥� and society鈥檚 embodiment of divine light. When God鈥檚 presence truly shines upon a person or nation, that person or nation is in turn able to bring light to others. This light鈥攚hich may be understood as moral guidance and instruction, truth, compassion, justice, unification, love鈥攊s the true source of power and honor, the 鈥渨ealth鈥� of which the prophet speaks.

Fifth Haftarah of Consolation

Aug 24, 2018 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Ki Tetzei

This fifth haftarah of comfort describes a process of reconciliation. Now on the other side of the abyss, God鈥檚 anger and 鈥渉iding of the face鈥� can be seen in retrospect as temporary, even momentary, and confidence on the reliability of love and kindness can be restored.

Fourth haftarah of consolation

Aug 17, 2018 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Shofetim

This fourth and middle haftarah of consolation and comfort begins with a challenge to the people: why do you allow a mere mortal, however seemingly powerful, to send you into a tailspin of fear and anxiety? Isaiah points out that the people are suffering not only from externally imposed oppression, but from their own internal response鈥攄read, reeling like a drunkard, despair. This hopelessness that denies or ignores unforeseen possibility and unexpected redemption is called 鈥渇orgetting God.鈥�

Third haftarah of consolation

Aug 10, 2018 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Re'eh

This third haftarah of consolation and comfort contains a beautiful promise of a society established on righteousness, and consequently free of oppression and fear and safe from ruin. Most strikingly, it critiques the worldview that sees the accumulation of wealth and material possessions as the highest value, offering an alternative vision, in which that which truly satisfies is available 鈥渨ithout money.鈥�

Second haftarah of consolation

Aug 3, 2018 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Va'et-hannan

Underlying this second haftarah of comfort is a sense of near-despair: the people lament having been abandoned by God, and God responds to their unspoken fear that God is powerless to save them. As the honest grief of the heart and soul that knows what it has lost, such despair is necessary; without it, comfort and hope are false. But despair is dangerous too; it can lead to helplessness, disengagement, and resignation to injustice. It can also create an inability to embrace a redemptive message: while the people lament being abandoned by God, God is calling to them and being ignored.

First haftarah of consolation (Shabbat Nahamu)

Jul 27, 2018 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Va'et-hannan

This special haftarah, which begins nahamu nahamu ami鈥斺�渃omfort, oh comfort, My people,鈥� is the first of seven special haftarot of comfort (drawn from Isaiah 40鈥�63). During these seven weeks, the relationship between the people and God鈥攕trained almost to breaking on Tishah Be鈥檃v鈥攊s slowly rebuilt, allowing us to stand before God once again on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Third Haftarah of Rebuke (Shabbat Hazon)

Jul 20, 2018 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Devarim | Tishah Be'av

In this third haftarah of calamity or rebuke, the opening chapter of Isaiah, the once noble society has sunk to the level of Sodom and Gomorrah. Strikingly, there is no dearth of external piety (indeed, God is over-satiated to the point of disgust with the people鈥檚 offerings and prayers), nor is there any charge of sexual impropriety or impurity. Rather, the suffering of the people is caused by injustice, indifference to the cries of the vulnerable, oppression, systemic greed, and selfish and self-serving leadership.

Unleashing the Haftarah

Jul 13, 2018 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Tishah Be'av

One of the most remarkable aspects of the Tanakh is its self-critical character. Like the narratives of the Torah, the 鈥渇ormer鈥� prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings) feature only flawed heroes. The 鈥渓atter鈥� prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the twelve minor prophets) raise the stakes. Soaring and searing, they rail against the injustices and failures of society, holding a mirror to structural inequities that create poverty and oppression. The prophets lay bare the systemic corruptions within even biblically-created institutions鈥攖he priesthood, monarchy, and nation鈥攔evealing hypocrisies, false pieties, and breaches of the public trust.

First and Second Haftarot of Rebuke

Jul 6, 2018 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Masei | Mattot | Pinehas | Tishah Be'av

Chapters 1 and 2 of Jeremiah constitute the first two haftarot of 鈥渃alamity鈥� or rebuke. In them, the prophet anticipates disorienting but necessary societal upheaval; he is called 鈥渢o uproot and pull down, destroy and overthrow,鈥� and also 鈥渢o build and to plant.鈥� 

It Passes and We Stay

Apr 20, 2018 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Metzora | Tazria

A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period鈥�
When March is scarcely here

The double parashiyot of Tazria and Metzora are devoted in their entireties to the Biblical notion of tumah, usually translated as 鈥渋mpurity.鈥� In them, we learn three of the major sources of tumah: childbirth (Lev. 12); a condition known as 迟锄补谤补鈥檃迟, which can manifest on skin, clothing, or the walls of one鈥檚 house (Lev. 13鈥�14); and bodily secretions (Lev. 15). The two other primary sources of tumah are touching or carrying the carcasses of certain animals (Lev. 11) and contact with a human corpse (Num. 19).

The Antidote to Korah

Jun 23, 2017 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Korah

How to deal with a demagogue? Parashat Korah offers a case study in what works and what doesn鈥檛.

The parashah begins with a dramatic confrontation. Korah gathers together with Datan, Aviram, On, and 250 community leaders, and hurls accusations at Moses and Aaron.

Dreaming of Being Balaam

Jul 22, 2016 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Balak

The story of the heathen prophet Balaam鈥攈ired by Moabite king Balak ben Tzippor to curse the people Israel鈥攊s altogether strange. It concerns events happening outside the Israelite camp and seemingly unknown to them, characters we鈥檝e not yet met, and a talking donkey. Its tone ranges from burlesquely funny to surreal.

Touch: Beyond the Mountain鈥檚 Edge

Jun 6, 2016 By Jan Uhrbach | Short Video | Shavuot

From the 5776 Receiving Torah with All Our Senses series.

Words Fail Me

Jan 8, 2016 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Va'era

This common idiom鈥攕o casually tossed off in a moment of surprise鈥攅xpresses a deep truth. Words do indeed fail us, sometimes to tragic effect. 

That is the way the Zohar (the foundational text of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism) understands our exile in Egypt: as the exile of speech, a failure of words. In this reading, the breakdown of speech is both cause and effect of our enslavement, while healing and redeeming speech鈥攆inding our voice鈥攊s both the process and hallmark of redemption. 

Amalek

Feb 27, 2015 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Shabbat Zakhor | Purim

The Shabbat prior to Purim, known as Shabbat Zakhor, takes its name from the first word of the special maftir (additional Torah reading) for the day, which retells the story of the first post-enslavement attack against the newly freed Israelites:

Remember (zakhor) what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt . . . You shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget! (Deuteronomy 25:17-19)

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.

Kollot Rabbinic Literature, 2022-23

By Jan Uhrbach

Download Sources Download Sources: Yiftach’s Daughter | Shoftim Download Sources Download Sources