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“What’s God?”鈥攁nd Other Questions Kids Ask
Aug 2, 2024 By Chaim Galfand | Commentary | Masei | Mattot
This week’s double Torah reading specifies 42 locations where the Israelites camped between leaving Egypt and entering Canaan. While the list could be seen as pro forma, a beloved teacher of mine鈥擠r. Eliezer Slomovic鈥攁lways insisted that God is not a blabbermouth; everything in Torah is imbued with meaning, even a list of 42 place names. Toward the end of Douglas Adams鈥� The Hitchhiker鈥檚 Guide to the Galaxy, a supercomputer famously reveals the Ultimate Answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything to be the number 42. The numerical parallel to the 42 Israelite encampments provides a serendipitous opening to consider how the seemingly mundane might be the gateway to a wider awareness of something greater than ourselves.
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Making Space for Life
Jul 26, 2024 By Joel Alter | Commentary | Pinehas
It鈥檚 not for nothing, this reputation God has for consuming anger. The Torah itself makes the case. Our parashah opens with yet another instance of God hovering at the brink. God is prepared to wipe us out in a rage over our incessant violations of the inviolable. We read inNumbers 25:10-15that God grants Pinehas a 鈥渃ovenant of peace鈥� for having leapt into action (at the end of last week鈥檚 parashah), publicly slaying two people who grossly violated sacred boundaries before the entire people. 鈥淧inehas,鈥� God explains, 鈥渉as turned back My wrath from the Israelites by displaying among them his passion for Me, so that I did not put an end to the Israelites through My zeal.鈥� (25:11)
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The Sound of No Hands Clapping
Jul 19, 2024 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Commentary | Balak
The Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Talmud) will draw the connection between our parashah and clapping. It states that clapping, particularly when done in anger, is discouraged on Shabbat, and bases the prohibition on Numbers 24:10, where Balak, enraged by Balaam’s blessings instead of curses, claps his hands together in frustration. Balak鈥檚 clapping symbolizes a loss of control and submission to anger鈥攁ctions that go against the peaceful spirit of Shabbat.
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Heroes and Humans
Jul 12, 2024 By Amy Kalmanofsky | Commentary | Hukkat
But Moses also has shortcomings. His initial reluctance when God first approaches him to become Israel鈥檚 liberator could indicate cowardice, or worse, a lack of faith(Exod. 4:11鈥�12). Moses also has a temper. He gets angry at the people(Exod. 32:19) and at God(Num. 11:10鈥�15).
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Not for the Sake of Heaven
Jul 5, 2024 By Menachem Creditor | Commentary | Korah
Parashat Korah, a poignant ancient exploration of conflict and leadership, remains frighteningly current. Korah challenges the authority of his cousins, Moses and Aaron, accusing them of elevating themselves above the community they serve. The biblical narrative communicates the palpable tension of contrasting intentions behind this dispute and the qualities that distinguish servant leaders from those whose primary motivations are attention and power.
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The Large Significance of the Littlest Letter
Jun 28, 2024 By Malka Strasberg Edinger | Commentary | Shelah Lekha
Could one tiny letter really be so important? At the beginning of this week鈥檚 parashah, as Moshe sends twelve scouts to tour the Land of Canaan, we are told that Moshe changed Joshua鈥檚 name from Hoshea to Yehoshua.
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The Journey
Jun 21, 2024 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Beha'alotekha
In other words, the path forward is never clear, and God isn鈥檛 a divine GPS. Revelation and faith shape our vision of where we want to go; they offer a compass pointing to true north, orienting us in the general direction of that vision. But to get there, we need maps, road signs, traffic signals, and human guides with a variety of expertise鈥攔eligious and secular.
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What Blessing Do You Need Now?
Jun 14, 2024 By Andrea Merow | Commentary | Naso
In Parashat Naso we learn the blessing used by so many, calledbirkat kohanim, the blessing of the priests. Amid our longestparashah, nestled between laws of the Nazirites and final preparations for how to use the Tabernacle, our holy space, God teaches that people can use their words and actions to bless one another, all while noting that our blessings come from The Holy One.
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Becoming Like the Wilderness
Jun 7, 2024 By Eitan Fishbane | Commentary | Bemidbar | Shavuot
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 anchoredin the space of wilderness.
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The Terrifying Third Aliyah of Behukkotai
May 31, 2024 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Commentary | Behukkotai | Shavuot
Why do we continue to read such horrible curses, and another passage much like it in Parashat Ki Tavo (Deut. 28:1鈥�68), each year? The simplest answer is that we read the entirety of the Torah each year, omitting nothing. However, the Mishnah (Megillah 3:6) already notes something special about the curses of the Leviticus passage: 鈥淭he section of curses must not be broken up but must all be read by one person.鈥�
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What Can a Bird and a Seed Teach Us About Shemitah?
May 24, 2024 By Yael Hammerman | Commentary | Behar
In Parashat Behar, God tells the Israelites that when they enter the land that God will give them, 鈥渢he Land shall observe a Sabbath of the Adonai鈥濃�攙eshavta ha鈥檃retz Shabbat l鈥橝donai (Lev. 25:2). This becomes known as the shemitah year. For six years, you can work to your heart鈥檚 content鈥攜ou can sow, prune, and gather, but in the seventh year, the land shall have a full, complete rest: shabbat shabbaton yihiyeh la鈥檃retz (Lev. 25:4)!
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Are We Just Speaking, or Truly Communicating?
May 17, 2024 By Loraine Enlow | Commentary | Emor
Perhaps the breaking of the formula for our parashah鈥檚 irregular emor is about more than just words. Using its characteristic wordplay, the Midrash connects the parashah鈥檚 emor here to omer in Psalm 19:3 (spelled the same way, but as a poetic noun): 鈥渄ay to day utters speech (omer), and night to night reveals knowledge.鈥� It explains that the day and the night are negotiating the giving and borrowing of time from each other to create the cycles of the year between the equinoxes. Reading the next verse in the psalm, we see 鈥渢here is no speech (omer) . . .鈥� Or as the Midrash puts it, 鈥渢hey pay each other back harmoniously, without a contract.鈥�
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Who among Us Is Holy?
May 10, 2024 By Talia Kaplan | Commentary | Kedoshim
When God instructs Moses to tell the Israelites 拽讚砖讬诐 转讛讬讜, 鈥淵ou shall be holy,鈥� the injunction is to be delivered 讗侄诇志讻指旨诇志注植讚址支转 讘职旨谞值讬志讬执砖职讉专指讗值譀诇, 鈥渢o the entire community of Israel鈥� (Lev. 19:2). This week鈥檚 parashah opens with a message that seems easy to get behind. The question, though, of what it actually means to be holy, is answered by commentators in a way that paints a more complicated picture. Rashi explains that being holy entails refraining from forbidden sexual relations and transgressive thoughts, which are delineated both in this and the previous parashah.
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What Do the Dead Know?
May 3, 2024 By Jonathan Boyarin | Commentary | Aharei Mot
This week鈥檚 Torah portion begins with the words 鈥渁fter the death,鈥� referring to the death of Aaron鈥檚 sons Nadab and Abihu. I appreciate the chance to contribute this week鈥檚 commentary, since I鈥檓 currently teaching a course titled 鈥淒eath, Dying, and the Dead鈥� at 91快活林. Much of the course is about Jewish death rituals, but I also aim to convince my students that Jewishness per se is inconceivable without some notion of the continuing presence of the dead in the world of the living. The tradition for the most part seems to take this continued presence for granted, though questions arose about exactly how it manifests.
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Shevi鈥檌 Shel Pesah: Living at the Frontier
Apr 25, 2024 By Lauren Henderson | Commentary | Pesah
On the seventh day of Passover (Shevi鈥檌 shel Pesah),we reached the frontier of our existence:Yam Suf, the Sea of Reeds. We had known slavery intimately, becoming deeply comfortable in Egypt even as we clamored to leave. And after all the plagues and darkness and death, we arrived, trembling, at the water鈥檚 edge, about to surface and breathe the unfamiliar air of freedom for the first time.
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In Each and Every Generation
Apr 19, 2024 By Burton L. Visotzky | Commentary | Pesah
Twice in the Passover liturgy we hear the phrase, 鈥渋n each and every generation.鈥� We are taught that 鈥渋n each and every generation a person is obligated to see himself as though he had participated in the Exodus from Egypt.鈥� On the other hand, we are reminded that 鈥渋n each and every generation they arise against us to destroy us.鈥� The consolation is that The Holy, blessed be God, presumably saves us from their hands.
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Across the Divide: Tips for Hard Conversations at the Seder Table
Apr 15, 2024 By Jan Uhrbach | Commentary | Pesah
Many of us are approaching seder this year with concern about seemingly unbridgeable divides about Israel. It鈥檚 tempting to try to avoid difficult conversations, but Passover isn鈥檛 merely a holiday of gratitude for a past redemption鈥攊t calls us to move toward transformation and freedom internally and externally, individually and collectively, especially with those closest to […]
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Charting a Way Back
Apr 12, 2024 By Rabbi Ayelet Cohen | Commentary | Tazria
The book of Vayikra can be understood as an exercise in transition; if one imagines the Torah as the lifecycle trajectory of Israel, this The book of Vayikra can be understood as an exercise in transition; if one imagines the Torah as the lifecycle trajectory of Israel, this book represents adolescence/early adulthood. The Israelites are still transitioning from being an enslaved people toward becoming a free people. With their newfound autonomy, they must learn responsibility to one another and service to God. They struggle with faith, patience, ethical behavior, interpersonal relationships, and boundaries鈥攊n short, all of the things that are hard about maturation and adulthood.book represents adolescence/early adulthood. The Israelites are still transitioning from being an enslaved people toward becoming a free people. With their newfound autonomy, they must learn responsibility to one another and service to God. They struggle with faith, patience, ethical behavior, interpersonal relationships, and boundaries鈥攊n short, all of the things that are hard about maturation and adulthood.
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Honoring Aaron鈥檚 Tragic Sacrifice in the Laws of Mourning
Apr 5, 2024 By Shira Billet | Commentary | Shabbat Hahodesh | Shemini
Shemini begins on the eighth and final day of inauguration week. The ceremony narrated in Leviticus 9 culminates in a felicitous and ecstatic moment of response from God to their carefully orchestrated sacrificial rites: 鈥淢oses and Aaron then went inside the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the Presence of the Lord appeared to all the people. Fire came forth from before the Lord and consumed the burnt-offering . . . on the altar. And all the people saw, and shouted and fell on their faces鈥� (Lev. 9:23-24).
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Prayer as Resonance
Mar 29, 2024 By Luciana Pajecki Lederman | Commentary | Shabbat Parah | Tzav
According to sociologist Harmut Rosa, the main role of rituals is to produce axes of resonance, through which we not only affect but also open ourselves to being affected by God, people, and even things around us. In conceiving of Jewish prayer, our ancient rabbis indicate a concern with creating resonance, by balancing 鈥渁ffecting鈥� and 鈥渂eing affected.鈥�
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