91快活林

Intermarriage and the Desert

Jun 16, 2017 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Shelah Lekha

In light of the recent work of colleagues and friends regarding the boundaries of the Jewish people and how that impacts the weddings that should or should not be performed, I cannot but help to read this Shabbat鈥檚 parashah in terms of boundaries.

A Strong Sign

Jun 9, 2017 By Nicole Wilson-Spiro | Commentary | Beha'alotekha

I offered my very first devar Torah on this portion as I became a bat mitzvah 25 years ago. My memory of my early thoughts on this portion is admittedly hazy, but I am quite sure I did not pick up on the age requirements given in the portion for serving as a Levite. According to Numbers 8:24鈥�25, a Levite man was required to be between 25 and 50 years old to perform the duties associated with the Tabernacle. Rashi notes that Numbers 4:3 states that the minimum age for service is 30 years, and not 25, as in our portion. He suggests that at 25 a Levite man began to study the laws of sacrifice, and after five years of study, at the age of 30, he was prepared to take on his Levitical duties.

Let鈥檚 Talk about Sex

Jun 9, 2017 By Michal Raucher | Commentary | Beha'alotekha

There are many unanswered questions about the now-infamous incident of God chastising Aaron and Miriam and then inflicting Miriam with 迟锄补谤补鈥檃迟, or leprosy, at the conclusion of Parashat Beha鈥檃lotekha. Primarily, there are questions about what exactly Miriam and Aaron did to receive God鈥檚 rebuke, and why Miriam is the only one punished. Many interpreters have considered Miriam鈥檚 wrongdoing in two ways: either she is guilty of racism towards Tziporah, or God scolds her for the presumption that she and Aaron are prophets just as important as Moses.

Remembering Alan Mintz (z”l)

Jun 7, 2017 By 91快活林 | Public Event video

A celebration of the life and work of 91快活林’s Chana Kekst Professor of Jewish Literature Alan Mintz 锄鈥漧, with remarks from colleagues and dramatic readings from S. Y. Agnon鈥檚 Buczacz stories.

What Would You Pack?

Jun 2, 2017 By Tim Daniel Bernard | Commentary | Naso

1 pair of pants, 1 shirt, 1 pair of shoes and 1 pair of socks
Shampoo and hair gel, toothbrush and toothpaste, face whitening cream
Comb, nail clipper
Bandages
100 U.S. dollars
130 Turkish liras
Smart phone and back-up cell phone
SIM cards for Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey

鈥攃ontents of Iqbal鈥檚 backpack on arriving in Lesbos, Greece (emphasis added)

The Problem with Priests

Jun 2, 2017 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Naso

Modern Judaism has a problem with the priesthood. The notion of hereditary holiness鈥攖hat one segment of the Jewish people is set apart from others, given ceremonial privileges, and invited to bless the people鈥攃onflicts with our egalitarian ethos. The strange rituals of the priests, especially when they are invited to raise their hands in blessing the people, feel magical and irrational. For these reasons, many non-Orthodox communities have diminished or even eliminated the priestly privileges such as reserving the first aliyot for kohanim and 尝别惫颈鈥檌尘.

A Text That Mirrors Democracy

May 26, 2017 By David Marcus | Commentary | Bemidbar

The book of Numbers does not start with the word bemidbar, which occurs a little later in the first verse, but rather with vayedabber (鈥渁nd he said鈥�). In the standard Rabbinic Bible (Mikraot Gedolot), the first word of the book is introduced with an extraordinary flourish: The word vayedabber is printed in giant letters and enclosed in a decorative woodcut border in the shape of a parallelogram. This is surrounded by another rectangle consisting of two lines of Masoretic notations (traditional notes on the Biblical text) on each side; these notations are, in turn, surrounded by two biblical verses, one from Nehemiah and one from Daniel.

Becoming Like the Wilderness

May 26, 2017 By Eitan Fishbane | Commentary | Bemidbar

With the start of Sefer Bemidbar, the narrative of the Torah turns to the long journey of Benei Yisrael through the wilderness鈥攑unishment for the sin of the Golden Calf and preparation for entry into the Land of Israel. Passage into the sacred terrain first requires an arduous ordeal of wandering鈥攁 physical process of movement and quest. Penitence, pilgrimage, and transformation are anchored in the space of wilderness.

The Limitations of Ownership

May 19, 2017 By Yedida Eisenstat | Commentary | Behar | Behukkotai

Rashi, the well-known medieval northern French biblical commentator, begins his commentary on this week鈥檚 parashah with a famous question, loosely paraphrased as follows: In what way does the matter of shemittah [the sabbatical year] have anything to do with Mount Sinai? In other words, the laws of Leviticus 25鈥攂eginning with the agricultural restrictions of the seventh year, the regulations regarding the jubilee year, limitations on sale of land and slaves鈥攁re wholly dependent on Israel living in Israel. So why, Rashi asks, were these laws commanded so long before they would become relevant? Of what relevance are the laws of shemittah to the Israelites at Sinai?

讘讛专 住讬谞讬 (鈥淎t Mount Sinai鈥�)

May 19, 2017 By Louis Polisson | Commentary | Behar | Behukkotai

At Mount Sinai
We chose Her
And what did She say?

Declare liberty for boy and girl
There shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land
A Sabbath
For Being

Law, Compassion, and Justice

May 12, 2017 By Eliezer B. Diamond z”l | Commentary | Emor

In the fall of 2012, I taught a course at the Princeton Theological Seminary entitled 鈥淎n Introduction to Rabbinic Literature.鈥� I saw my mission as twofold. My stated goal was to familiarize my students with the intellectual and spiritual world of the Rabbis through the study of representative texts from each of the genres of rabbinic literature: Mishnah, Tosefta, the Talmuds, and the halakhic and aggadic midrashim.

However, my study of text had a subtext: to disabuse my Christian students of the pernicious stereotypes of rabbinic Judaism that, some would argue, were first fostered by the apostle Paul and that persist to this very day in many Christian circles.

Casting Call: Leaders Wanted

May 12, 2017 By Avi Garelick | Commentary | Emor

For the stage, an actor works himself into a role鈥� In this respect, a role in a play is like a position in a game, say, third base: various people can play it, but the great third baseman is a man who has accepted and trained his skills and instincts most perfectly and matches them most intimately with his discoveries of the possibilities and necessities of third base. On the stage there are two beings, and the being of the character assaults the being of the actor; the actor survives only by yielding.

鈥擲tanley Cavell, The World Viewed: Reflections on the Ontology of Film, 1971

Mighty Be Our Powers: Standing Together to Confront Tyranny

May 10, 2017 By Ruth Messinger | Public Event video

Renowned peace activist Leymah Gbowee delivers the annual John Paul II Lecture on Interfaith Understanding. Gbowee won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her work leading a women’s peace movement that brought an end to the Second Liberian Civil War.

The Arabic Translation and Commentary of Yefet ben 鈥楨li on the Book of Proverbs

May 9, 2017 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

Ilana Sasson, instructor at Sacred Heart University and 91快活林 alumna, will discuss her new critical edition of a key Arabic translation and commentary on the book of Proverbs.

Separation and Union: The Poles of Holiness

May 5, 2017 By Stephen A. Geller | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim

These combined parashiyot are complex in their structure and content, yet a careful examination of these chapters reveals a striking and powerful theological insight. In terms of Bible scholarship, they extend across a major divide in the priestly literature: Leviticus 16 describes the detailed rites of yearly atonement that eliminated the taint of sinfulness from the priesthood, shrine, and people. In essence, it is a kind of re-creation of the initial state of purity of the Tabernacle on the day it was dedicated, as described in Leviticus 9-10. The link between atonement and dedication is made subtly, by the reference at the beginning of Leviticus 16 to the tragic deaths of Aaron鈥檚 sons, Nadab and Abihu, at the dedication of the Tabernacle, as recounted in Leviticus 10.

Leftover Scraps

May 5, 2017 By Julia Andelman | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim | Shavuot

The Torah exhorts us in this week鈥檚 parashah: 鈥淲hen you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest鈥�you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger鈥� (Lev. 19:9-10). This mitzvah plays out in beautiful narrative form in the Book of Ruth, read on the upcoming holiday of Shavuot. But Ruth is the exception; she is rescued from her destitute state by Boaz, the owner of the field where she gleans, who marries her. What of all those who remained gleaners鈥攚hose survival depended on the daily toil of gathering other people鈥檚 leftovers?

Gender Inside and Outside the Camp

Apr 28, 2017 By Joy Ladin | Commentary | Metzora | Tazria

The idea that others would examine and report on intimate details of our bodies鈥攖hat such things would be of communal concern, and subject us to institutional regulation鈥攎ay seem archaic. But as transgender people know, when it comes to gender, this kind of surveillance is alive and well.

Guarding Our Tongues

Apr 28, 2017 By Abigail Uhrman | Commentary | Metzora | Tazria

Becoming is better than being.

鈥擟arol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

This week鈥檚 parashah discusses 迟锄补谤补鈥檃迟, a skin disease understood in rabbinic tradition as punishment for lashon hara, evil speech. The public castigation that the metzora suffers is a powerful warning for us to 鈥済uard our tongues.鈥� It was with words that God created the world, and our words have potential to build, create, and sustain life and human dignity, or to be a source of pain and destruction.

A World Turned Upside Down: A Conservative Jewish Response

Apr 26, 2017 By Arnold M. Eisen

Making Meat

Apr 21, 2017 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Shemini

Dr. Mark Post of the University of Maastricht stunned the world several summers ago by producing the most expensive burger in history. Working from stem cells taken from a live cow, his team cultured muscle tissue that they then turned into an edible product resembling ground beef. Amongst all the specifications for kosher animals in this week鈥檚 parashah, lab-grown meat is unsurprisingly absent. Jews therefore want to know鈥攊s it kosher? Could it even be pareve?