91快活林

Wrestling the Angels and the Demons within Us

Dec 1, 2017 By Jonathan Milgram | Commentary | Vayishlah

In this week鈥檚 Torah reading, Parashat Vayishlah, we read of the patriarch Jacob鈥檚 journey home with his family after freeing himself and his entire clan from his father-in-law, Laban鈥檚, control. Along the route, Jacob prepares himself for his eventual reunion with his older twin brother Esau, whom he fears to be vengeful. Right in the middle of the parashah, in between the description of Jacob鈥檚 preparations and his actual meeting with Esau, Jacob is involved in a transformative experience: a physical struggle with a stranger.

A Sage for Today

Dec 1, 2017 By Barry Holtz | Commentary

In my new biography of Rabbi Akiva, I have tried to draw upon the latest scholarship about rabbinic stories to present the outlines of his life anew for our times, in the light of what we know about how to read these stories from our tradition and about the historical context of the ancient Jewish world. My goal was to present the various stories about Akiva鈥檚 life in an intellectually serious but accessible manner, highlighting their literary character and trying to discern the ways that Akiva鈥檚 story might speak to people today. 

Escaping a Toxic Relationship

Nov 24, 2017 By Lilly Kaufman | Commentary | Vayetzei

Poor Jacob is triply triangulated in Parashat Vayetzei! His boss, Laban, is not only his uncle, Rebecca鈥檚 older brother, but also his father-in-law, Leah and Rachel鈥檚 father. Leah and Rachel are bitter rivals, Leah resenting Jacob鈥檚 love for Rachel, and Rachel wishing for children when God has blessed only Leah with fertility. Complicating this tangle of relationships is the fact that Jacob and Laban work together, and Laban is not a fair employer. 

What Makes a Book 鈥淭orah鈥�?

Nov 24, 2017 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Commentary

In the manuscript age, what distinguished 鈥淭orah鈥� from other writing? One of the key answers to this question is that manuscripts were fluid and each copy therefore different from any other, while Torah鈥攁s the word of God and the source of Jewish tradition鈥攈ad to be precise and unchanging.

A Family of Covenant

Nov 17, 2017 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Toledot

The stories of Genesis are presented as family portraits, but simultaneously they describe the origins of a religious civilization. How did the people of Israel acquire and maintain its distinctive religious mission? Genesis offers not only a window into Israel鈥檚 past, but a blueprint for its future. Implicit is an invitation to contribute to this unfolding narrative, attaching the threads of our lives to the tapestry woven by our ancestors. 

Speaking to God, Speaking to People

Nov 17, 2017 By 91快活林 Alumni | Commentary | Text Study

By Rabbi Debra Newman Kamin (RS 鈥�90)

Adonai, open my lips that my mouth may speak your praise. (Psalms 51:17)

My God, keep my tongue from evil and my lips from deceit. (BT Berakhot 17a, based on Psalms 34:14)

At different stages of my life prayer has been a challenge, but I have found it meaningful to think not just about each individual prayer but how the structure of the service helps us experience different facets of prayer. 

Leaving Home

Nov 10, 2017 By Eliezer B. Diamond z”l | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah

To the best of my knowledge, Hayyei Sarah contains the only instance in Tanakh of a parent asking his child鈥檚 wishes. Laban and Betuel cannot come to an agreement with Abraham鈥檚 servant鈥攚ho we鈥檒l call Eliezer鈥攁bout whether Rebecca should remain in Haran for a time or depart immediately to Canaan. And so, they ask Rebecca to state her preference. Contrary to her family鈥檚 express wishes, Rebecca decides to leave immediately.

A Time for Silence and a Time for Speaking

Nov 10, 2017 By Matthew Goldstone | Commentary | Text Study

Whoever is able to protest against the [sins of the] people of his household and does not protest is caught in the [sins] of his household; against [the sins of] the people of his city [and does not protest] is caught in the [sins] of the people of his city; against [the sins of] the whole world [and does not protest] is caught in the [sins] of the whole world.

鈥擝abylonian Talmud, Shabbat 54b

Women of Faith

Nov 3, 2017 By Amy Kalmanofsky | Commentary | Vayera

Abraham passed God鈥檚 litmus test of faith. God commands Abraham to take his beloved son Isaac to the land of Moriah and kill him. Faithful Abraham does not hesitate. Genesis 22 may be the most loved and hated story in the Torah by every reader, no matter what their faith. Certainly, generations of Jews have struggled to make sense of this story, and of the father and God it portrays. 

The Rabbis, the Romans, and Us

Nov 3, 2017 By Burton L. Visotzky | Commentary

In my most recent book I take up a quintessentially American Jewish subject: can we adopt the broader culture in which we live and still be Jewish? Is it possible to have a strong Jewish identity while living as Americans who are university educated and share our lives with our gentile neighbors? To answer this I turned to the centuries and texts which birthed Judaism as we know it.

Land and People鈥擶hen Things Get Real

Oct 27, 2017 By Hillel Gruenberg | Commentary | Lekh Lekha

Lekh Lekha is one of my favorite parashiyot because it marks the entrance of the biblical narrative 鈥渋nto history.鈥� Putting aside the historicity of the Bible鈥攖he subject of no small scholarly debate鈥擫ekh Lekha departs from the preceding biblical text as it introduces us to the lands, people, and civilizations that will serve as a backdrop for the millennia of triumph and tribulation that await Abraham, his descendants, and their contemporaries. Until now, the story has been fundamentally supernatural and ahistorical鈥攖he creation of the world and all that is in it, heavenly gifts and divine punishment, a cataclysmic flood, and extensive genealogies of the forebears of future nations, whose lifespans number in the hundreds of years.

Distance Learning from the Back of Shul

Oct 27, 2017 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Commentary

When we think of 鈥渢he book鈥� (as in 鈥渢he people of the book鈥�), we picture a bound volume with pages sitting open before a reader on a table or a lap. It we are speaking of the Torah, that book is typically a humash, which will often be found in the seat back of the seat in front of you in the synagogue. The same is true of a prayer book.

Lessons of Survival

Oct 20, 2017 By Melanie Levav | Commentary | Noah

讜址讬职讛执讬 讛址讙旨侄砖讈侄诐 注址诇-讛指讗指专侄抓 讗址专职讘旨指注执讬诐 讬讜止诐 讜职讗址专职讘旨指注执讬诐 诇指讬职诇指讛:

The rain fell on the land for forty days and forty nights. (Gen. 7:12)

One need not look hard these days to read of the devastation brought by floods. In recent weeks, powerful hurricanes have caused destruction beyond belief, completely flooding parts of Texas, Florida, the Caribbean, and the entirety of Puerto Rico. Beyond the devastation of land and property, such storms leave a lasting impact on the people who survive the experience. How we respond to such disasters can make a difference in how we continue to live.

The Spirituality of Solitude

Oct 20, 2017 By 91快活林 Alumni | Commentary

By Rabbi Martin S. Cohen (RS 鈥�78, GS 鈥�82)

It can鈥檛 have been easy having Rambam as your dad. But that was how things were for Maimonides鈥檚 only son, Abraham, born in 1186 when his father was already 51 years old and widely recognized as one of the greatest Jewish philosophers, commentators, and halakhic decisors ever. A contemporary Arab historian described Abraham as tall and lean, possessed of 鈥減leasant manners and refined speech, and distinguished in medicine鈥� (his chosen profession, as it had been his father鈥檚). 

A Year Without Second Chances

Oct 11, 2017 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Bereishit

One of the greatest gifts that Judaism offers its adherents is multiple opportunities for starting over. The first ten days of the New Year are devoted to teshuvah: repentance, renewal, return to one鈥檚 best self and to God. On Simhat Torah, the final day of the fall holiday season, we read the last words in the Torah and then without pause scroll back to the very first word, bereishit, 鈥渋n the beginning.鈥�

From Sarah to Mrs. Portnoy

Oct 10, 2017 By Marjorie Lehman | Commentary

From Sarah in the Bible to Philip Roth鈥檚 Mrs. Portnoy, images of the mother have been a hallmark of Jewish culture. Hallowed by some, excoriated by others鈥攎others have been depicted, on the one hand, as all that is good and sacred in the Jewish family, and, on the other, and far more frequently, as overbearing, guilt-inducing, and interfering.

Our Very Life

Oct 4, 2017 By 91快活林 Alumni | Commentary | Sukkot

One time it happened that a priest poured the libation on his feet, and all the people pelted him with their etrogim. (M. Sukkah 4:9)

The above Mishnah describes a scandalous episode set on the festival of Sukkot during the Second Temple period. The previous mishnah explains that on each day of the festival there was a ceremony where the priests would fill a golden flask with water from the Shiloah spring and bring it to the Temple to offer as a sacrifice on the altar. The special sacrifice of water was only offered on Sukkot. All other days of the year wine would be poured on the altar.

A Sukkah Remembers

Oct 4, 2017 By Ofra Arieli Backenroth | Commentary | Sukkot

In his poem 鈥淭he Jews,鈥� Yehuda Amichai (1924鈥�2000) bestows on us a full typology of the Jewish people鈥攆rom the standpoints of both Jews themselves and outsiders. Some of those images remain with us: the Jew wearing a Turkish turban in a Rembrandt painting, the Chagall Jew holding a violin as he flies over rooftops, and other vivid images. In the middle of the poem, Amichai mentions a sukkah鈥攈is grandfather鈥檚 sukkah, in particular. Amichai turns the memory of the Israelites鈥� wanderings in the desert that the sukkah usually evokes on its head, and describes the sukkah as an object that itself remembers and reflects back to us the history of the Jews.

Living With the Fragility of Life

Sep 29, 2017 By Mychal Springer | Commentary | Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is one 25-hour day that is capable of entering and enriching every day of the year. On Yom Kippur, we peel back some of our denial and make space for the fragility of life. The rituals help us and the liturgy helps us. At the center of the High Holiday Amidah, the collection of prayers known as Tefillah (Prayer), stands U-netaneh Tokef. It begins, 鈥淟et us speak of the sacred power of this day鈥攑rofound and awe-inspiring鈥� (Mahzor Lev Shalem). The list of ways in which we can die included in the prayer certainly captures our attention, and can feel overwhelming.

Teshuvah / Repentance

Sep 29, 2017 By Joanna Katz | Commentary | Yom Kippur

鈥淲hat you can change is looking at and approaching the things in your life differently.鈥�
鈥淭his Elul, I have had an opportunity to examine and reexamine my life so I might do things differently.鈥�
鈥淎ll the teshuvah work we do is inner work; the system does not care about the work we have done.鈥�
鈥淚 want to be a better person.鈥�

鈥擱emarks made to me by Jewish inmates during the month of Elul