91快活林

Basic Questions

Oct 12, 2018 By Shira D. Epstein | Commentary | Noah

Early in my teaching career I worked with kindergarteners, incorporating drama into daily Judaics lessons. The holiday cycle offered developmentally appropriate treasure troves of life lessons: practicing ways to say 鈥淚’m sorry鈥� to loved ones during Tishrei; exploring Esther鈥檚 mustering of courage to speak the truth; hesitations of the Israelites to part from predictable routines in the known and familiar Egypt to try something brand-new and strange.

HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship

Oct 9, 2018 By 91快活林 | Public Event video

A discussion with Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor, New York Law School; former President, American Civil Liberties Union.

Here We Go Again!

Oct 5, 2018 By Stephen P. Garfinkel | Commentary | Bereishit

What?! Starting Genesis again? We read it last fall. And we read it the year before that, and the year before that. How many times do we need to hear, 鈥淚n the beginning of God鈥檚 creating the heavens and the earth鈥� (or 鈥淲hen God began to create . . .,鈥� or the even better known, but less accurate, translation, 鈥淚n the beginning, God created heaven and earth . . .鈥�)? Really, don鈥檛 we already know that the first chapter of the Torah announces to all readers and listeners that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day?

When Buildings Fall

Sep 28, 2018 By Julia Andelman | Commentary | Sukkot

From my childhood perspective growing up in an apartment building in suburban Boston, having a sukkah was a symbol of arrival鈥攁nd our family didn鈥檛 have one. Most of our friends lived in private homes, and so, with a mixture of enjoyment and jealousy, we traipsed all around town to have our yom tov meals in other people鈥檚 sukkot.

Our Very Life

Sep 21, 2018 By Lilly Kaufman | Commentary | Ha'azinu

At the end of his life, with Joshua by his side, Moses begins his great, thunderous poem, Ha鈥檃zinu, summoning the heavens and the earth as witnesses to his powerful, angry message, as God commanded him to do in the preceding parashah, Vayelekh. And yet, in a one-verse reshut, a prayerful, wishful intention, preceding the central portion of his sermonic poem, he says he wants his words to land lightly: 鈥淢ay my discourse come down as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like showers on young growth, like droplets on the grass鈥� (Deut. 32:2). Then suddenly, central angry theme emerges, and he calls the people 鈥渦nworthy of [God], crooked, perverse鈥� (32:5), 鈥渄ull and witless鈥� (32:6). 

Metaphorically Speaking

Sep 14, 2018 By Amy Kalmanofsky | Commentary | Shabbat Shuvah | Yom Kippur

I am sometimes surprised at how literal liberal Jews can be. Many wonder whether they can refer to God as 诪讞讬讛 诪转讬诐, Restorer of Life to the Dead, if they do not believe there is life after death. Many wonder whether they should recite the blessing which praises God for choosing Israel from among the other nations, 讗砖专 讘讞专 讘谞讜 诪讻诇 讛注诪讬诐, if they do not believe that God chose Israel.

Remember the Children!

Sep 7, 2018 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Nitzavim | Rosh Hashanah

The cries of children, and the sobbing of parents, ring in our ears each Rosh Hashanah. The Torah and haftarah readings emphasize the perils faced by sons Ishmael and Isaac, and the terrors experienced by mothers Hagar, Sarah, Hannah, and Rachel. To witness a child in danger evokes a nearly universal response to rush to the rescue. Implicit in this collection of texts is the plea that God look upon us鈥攖he Jewish people鈥攁s vulnerable children, that divine mercies might be stirred, and forgiveness extended to us all. Just as the mothers of Israel were stirred with mercy, we ask that God be moved to show us love.

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.

Both/And: 250 Years of Conservative Judaism in 80 Minutes

Aug 31, 2018 By Arnold M. Eisen | Podcast or Radio Program

Learn how Conservative Judaism became what it is today in this accessible mini-series adaptation of Chancellor Eisen鈥檚 semester-long class for 91快活林 students.

First Fruits, New Thoughts: A Pilgrim Reflects on the First Fruits Ritual

Aug 31, 2018 By Eliezer B. Diamond z”l | Commentary | Ki Tavo

Peace be with you, friend! My name is Micah; I hail from Anav. And you? Shemaryahu, from Jericho, you say; a Benjaminite, then. Well, if you don鈥檛 mind sharing the road with a Judahite let鈥檚 walk together.

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.

Ethics of Solidarity and Civil Equality: From the Parashah to the Knesset

Aug 24, 2018 By Hillel Ben Sasson | Commentary | Ki Tetzei

From the narrative of Adam and Eve to the very last verses of Chronicles, the Hebrew Bible and specifically the Torah may be read as a process by which individuals and collectives are selected or separated. The Christian New Testament sends its redeeming message universally, to all human beings: 鈥淭here is neither Greek nor Jew, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female. For ye are all one in Christ Jesus鈥� (Galatians 3:28). Exceptions notwithstanding (Isa. 2:1-2, for example), our Tanakh is far more particularistic. 

A Diligent Inquiry

Aug 17, 2018 By Malka Strasberg Edinger | Commentary | Shofetim

The main theme in this week鈥檚 parashah, Parashat Shofetim, is justice. One of the many legal matters discussed is false witnesses. Deuteronomy 19:16鈥�20 reads:

If an unrighteous witness rise up against anyone to bear perverted witness against him; then both people, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before Hashem, before the priests and the judges that shall be in those days. And the judges shall inquire diligently…

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�

Behold: A Blessing and a Curse

Aug 10, 2018 By Yitzhak Lewis | Commentary | Re'eh

Earlier this year, we paid our final respects to Haim Gouri (1923鈥�2018), one of Hebrew poetry鈥檚 most prominent and persistent voices for the past seven decades. One of the central questions preoccupying Gouri鈥檚 work is the cycle whereby chosenness is transformed into the mundane, or a blessing into a curse, only to reemerge as the impossible synthesis of the two. 

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�

Would Our Mother Forget Us?

Aug 3, 2018 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Commentary | Eikev

This Shabbat is the second of the seven Shabbatot of consolation that follow Tishah Be鈥檃v, and, as on all these Shabbatot, its haftarah comes from the last part of the book of Isaiah. These are highly appropriate passages to console us after we commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem, because they were written by a prophet who lived in exile roughly a generation after the Babylonian empire demolished the Jerusalem Temple, destroyed the Judean state, and exiled much of its population. 

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.

Holding Fast

Jul 27, 2018 By Mychal Springer | Commentary | Va'et-hannan

This week we emerge from the destitution of Tisha Be鈥檃v, the fast day that commemorates the destruction of the Temples, and receive the gift of Shabbat Nahamu, the Shabbat of our being comforted. 谞址讞植诪讜旨 谞址讞植诪讜旨 注址诪旨执讬 讬止讗诪址专 讗直诇止讛值讬讻侄诐, 鈥淐omfort, oh comfort My people, Says your God鈥� (Isaiah 40:1). What is comfort? One way of understanding the essence of comfort is by engaging with Moshe Rabbenu (our teacher, Moses) in this week鈥檚 parashah.