91快活林

Remembering Who We Are

Mar 7, 2025 By Gordon Tucker | Commentary | Shabbat Zakhor

The coming Shabbat is designated as Shabbat Zakhor.The word is quite prevalent in Jewish literature and thought, and its basic meaning is generally translated by the words 鈥渕emory,鈥� 鈥渞emembrance,鈥� or 鈥渕emorial.鈥滱nd as a people we seem always to be remembering, and exhorting others to remember. It鈥檚 at the core of what we believe to be essential in Jewish education.As Isaac Bashevis Singer once remarked: 鈥淛ews suffer from many diseases, but amnesia is not one of them.

The Golden Crown of Parenting

Feb 28, 2025 By Lilly Kaufman | Commentary | Shabbat Shekalim | Terumah

These are architectural details of the Ark of the Covenant, the central element of the Holy of Holies, where the tablets of the Ten Commandments will be held and carried. The Ark has a covering of gold, inside and out, and a crown of gold. Four gold rings are attached to it, two to each side wall, and through these rings poles of acacia wood are inserted, which remain in place, even when the Ark is at rest. To what may this Ark be compared? To parents. How so?

Don鈥檛 Be the Terumah

Feb 21, 2025 By Stephanie Ruskay | Commentary | Mishpatim

Last week 91快活林, The Rabbinical Assembly, United Synagogue Youth, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Camp Ramah, the Jewish Youth Climate Movement Powered by Adamah, and Congregation Adas Israel in Washington, DC, launched Ruchot, the first ever advocacy and lobbying training for Conservative Movement teens. We gathered as an erev rav (mixed multitude) of 36 teens from 11 states (and one Canadian), 7 rabbinical students, 6 rabbis, three youth director staff, and an Israeli shaliah.鈥�

The Confusion of Revelation

Feb 14, 2025 By Barry Holtz | Commentary | Yitro

We have now come to Parashat Yitro in our annual Torah reading cycle, arguably the most significant sedra in the Humash. While Parashat Bereishit has the mythic power of the creation stories and Parashat Beshallah includes the narrative of the Exodus from Egypt and the miraculous crossing of the Sea, it is in Yitro that […]

Ariel Dunat – Senior Sermon (’25)

Feb 12, 2025 By 91快活林 Senior Sermon | Commentary | Senior Sermon | Yitro

Yitro

Aggressor and Aggrieved

Feb 7, 2025 By Dr. Phil Keisman | Commentary | Beshallah | Pesah

The Israelites find themselves in a new position in Parashat Beshallah. After generations of suffering as slaves to the pharaohs, and after decades of uncertainty about how and when their suffering might end, the Israelites are now staring backwards as their oppressors die violently.

The Worst Possible Plague

Jan 31, 2025 By Rebecca Galin | Commentary | Bo | Pesah

Terror. Annoyance. Foreboding. Among the Egyptians, each plague feels so much worse than anticipated. A shared sense of eeriness seeps in as the world becomes apocalyptic. Yet, each time a plague ends, the depth of the horror dissipates, forgotten until the next one arrives鈥攎ore all-consuming and destructive than before. Locusts, darkness, death, grief. The world is overturned by a foreign God. Egyptian safety depends on the emotional whims of their leadership, plagues ending only when God softens Pharaoh鈥檚 heart.

Alicia Rothamel – Senior Sermon (’25)

Jan 29, 2025 By 91快活林 Senior Sermon | Commentary | Senior Sermon | Bo

Bo All Class of 2025 Senior Sermons

Moses鈥檚 Lessons in Interfaith Dialogue

Jan 24, 2025 By Claire Davidson Bruder & Sherouk Ahmed | Commentary | Va'era

In the first week of 2025, the Washington Theological Consortium hosted a weeklong interfaith dialogue program at the United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia. Third-year 91快活林 rabbinical student and Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue program manager Claire Davidson Bruder participated in this program, alongside other Jewish, Christian, and Muslim seminary students. The following d鈥檝ar Torah is […]

A Turn for the Better

Jan 17, 2025 By Ariella Rosen | Commentary | Shemot

In Parashat Shemot, it appears that Moses took conscious steps to operate as a lone bystander, taking action that seems unlikely had a larger crowd been present. Raised in Pharaoh鈥檚 household, now an adult, Moses went out to walk among the Hebrew slaves as they labored. After witnessing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, 鈥淗e turned this way and that and, seeing no one about, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand鈥�(Exod. 2:12).

Angel or Avatar?

Jan 10, 2025 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Commentary | Vayehi

The second of these verses is often sung aloud in a beautiful melody by Abie Rotenberg when children have their aliyah on Simhat Torah and by some parents at bedtime each night. That melody has made these words familiar to many, but their meaning is not clear. Who, exactly, does Jacob call upon to bless the lads?

A Tale of Two Dreamers

Jan 3, 2025 By Eliezer B. Diamond z”l | Commentary | Vayiggash

Yet while the incongruity of Jacob鈥檚 response to Pharaoh鈥檚 question is in some sense humorous, Jacob鈥檚 words are heart-rending. They grow out of the existential and ideological divide that separates Jacob from his son. One can speak of three differences between their perspectives.

The World that Isn鈥檛 There

Dec 27, 2024 By Joel Seltzer | Commentary | Miketz

Years ago, I read a book by the author Chuck Klosterman titled But What if We鈥檙e Wrong? The premise of the book is to attempt to 鈥渢hink about the present as if it were the past,鈥� or in other words, to consider whether despite our current devotion to rationality and the scientific method, there are aspects of our modern world about which we might be profoundly wrong?

When Jacob Met Esau: Facing Our Fears

Dec 13, 2024 By Gordon Tucker | Commentary | Vayishlah

The story told in Parashat Vayishlahof the meeting between Jacob and Esau is well known.But a closer consideration of the details of the tale speaks to very contemporary concerns.The overall backdrop to the scene is the pervasive feeling of fear. Esau, Jacob learns, is approaching, and there are 400 men with him. Is it a lavish welcoming party? (This is not unheard of in the Middle East鈥擨 myself experienced just such a welcoming party in Egypt when I was traveling there with some American Cabinet officials in 1980.) Or is it a prelude to belligerency?Are the loud sounds they are making just the sounds of 400 excited people from a demonstrative culture, or are those cries of war?Jacob assumed the worst. He didn’t bother asking the messengers who reported Esau’s approach whether the 400 men were armed or not.Jacob reflexively got ready for battle

Going Out to Meet God and History

Dec 6, 2024 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Vayetzei

In what ways do the Jewish people, the descendants of Jacob, still reside in his 鈥渉ouse鈥�? How can we, who bear the name by which Jacob will be called in next week鈥檚 Torah portion, become the Israel whom Jacob henceforth struggles to become? I鈥檇 like to suggest, using the indispensable categories for Jewish self-understanding contributed by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, that Jacob is party to the 鈥渃ovenant of fate,鈥� while Israel signifies the 鈥渃ovenant of destiny.鈥� The 鈥渃ovenant of fate鈥� is imposed on Jews by history and circumstance, while the 鈥渃ovenant of destiny鈥� is one that Jews are called on to embrace in partnership with God.

On the Perils of Pregnancy: A Letter to Rivkah

Nov 29, 2024 By Rabbi Annie Lewis | Commentary | Toledot

Before you bravely took leave of your family, they blessed you that through your line would come thousands upon thousands of descendants. When you struggled to conceive, Yitzhak pleaded with God for you to bear children.

The Torah records how the boys thrashed about in your womb. 讜址讬执旨转职专止爪职爪讜旨 讛址讘指旨谞执讬诐 讘职旨拽执专职讘指旨讛旨. You cried out, 讗执诐志讻值旨谉 诇指诪指旨讛 讝侄旨讛 讗指谞止讻执讬, 鈥淚f this is how it is, why do I exist?鈥� (Gen. 25:22).

鈥淕er Vetoshav鈥�: A Lesson on Vulnerabilities and Humility

Nov 22, 2024 By Gordon Tucker | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah

Abraham rose, as he had to, from his wailing, because there was a necessary and sacred task to perform. And at that moment of needing to bury his dead, an enormity confronted him. Here鈥檚 how Abraham put it: 鈥済er vetoshav anokhi鈥濃�擨 am merely a stranger (ger), come to be an alien resident (toshav) here. I have no place; I have no accumulated rights and privileges.

Aiden Pink – Senior Sermon (RS ’25)

Nov 21, 2024 By 91快活林 Senior Sermon | Commentary | Senior Sermon | Hayyei Sarah

Aiden Pink – Hayyei Sarah

Can You Spell Check the Tanakh?

Nov 15, 2024 By David Zev Moster | Commentary | Vayera

There is a puzzling word in this week鈥檚 parashah: 诪值讞植讟讜止 鈥渇rom sinning鈥� (Genesis 20:6). God appears to Abimelekh in a dream and says, 鈥淚 myself have kept you from sinning (诪值讞植讟讜止) against me [with Sarah].鈥� The word 诪值讞植讟讜止 is unusual because it should be spelled with an alef, either as 诪值讞植讟止讗 in 1 Samuel 12:23 or as 诪值讞植讟讜止讗 in Psalm 39:2. We know there should be an alef because the Hebrew root 讞讟讗 鈥渢o sin鈥� appears 603 times in the Tanakh and has an alef 99.2% of the time. So, is the missing alef of 诪值讞植讟讜止 a spelling error? It depends on who you ask.

Claire Shoyer – Senior Sermon (RS ’25)

Nov 14, 2024 By 91快活林 Senior Sermon | Commentary | Senior Sermon | Vayera

Claire Shoyer’s Senior Sermon on Vayera