91快活林

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).

The Origins of the Nation Israel: Biblical, Historical, and Archaeological Data

Nov 25, 2024 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

What can we learn from the Bible鈥檚 narratives about the emergence of the nation Israel? Some streams insist on the literal infallibility of biblical history, while others assert that the Jews are not indigenous to Canaan/Israel/Palestine.

Considering biblical texts and archaeological evidence, this session examines the origin of the Israelites as an ethnic and political unit. How does the debate on biblical authority resonate both within and outside academic circles?

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

Power in Pluralism: Jewish Community Organizing after October 7

Nov 18, 2024 By Rabbi Ayelet Cohen | Public Event video | Video Lecture

In American and Israeli societies, we often focus on what divides us and the differences in how we respond to tragedies. This session focuses on activism and organizing in Jewish religious communities across denominations, both in Israel and the US. How have we pulled together and what are the outcomes of this work?

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

Alex Friedman – Senior Sermon (RS ’25)

Nov 13, 2024 By 91快活林 Senior Sermon | Commentary | Senior Sermon | Vayera | Rosh Hashanah

Alex Friedman’s Senior Sermon on Vayera

Henrietta Szold’s Zionism and Ours

Nov 11, 2024 By Shuly Rubin Schwartz | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Henrietta Szold, 91快活林鈥檚 first female student, was the most learned Jewish woman in America in the first half of the last century. Attracted to the Zionist dream as a teen in Baltimore, she channeled her intellect and love for the Jewish people into Hadassah. Defying gender norms and expectations, she transformed the way Jewish women thought about their capabilities and the way many Jews approach their relationship to Zionism.

How Can We Be a Blessing?

Nov 8, 2024 By Cantor Rabbi Shoshi Levin Goldberg | Commentary | Lekh Lekha

I have often pondered the meaning of the expression that a deceased person鈥檚 memory should be a blessing or will be for a blessing. Proverbs 10:7 teaches that 鈥渢he name of a righteous person is invoked in blessing鈥濃�斪栔抵Ｗ浿蹲� 爪址汁讚执旨讬拽 诇执讘职专指讻指謶讛 . Originally, this likely referred to invoking the name of a well-known righteous person as an exemplar and conduit for our own blessing. The Babylonian Talmud also teaches (Kiddushin 31b) that after the death of a parent, we may continue to fulfill the mitzvah of honoring our parents, and by extension other beloved relatives and friends, by saying 鈥渮ikhronam livrakhah,鈥� 鈥渕ay their memory be for a blessing.鈥�

Sass Brown – Senior Sermon (RS ’25)

Nov 6, 2024 By 91快活林 Senior Sermon | Commentary | Senior Sermon | Lekh Lekha

Sass Brown Senior Sermon for Lekh Lekha

Living With Difference

Nov 1, 2024 By Naomi Kalish | Commentary | Noah

Is the story of the Tower of Babel about human unity, or about human diversity?At the critical point when the Torah transitions from the story of Noah and its universal themes to the particular family of Abraham, the Tower of Babel conveys ambivalence about both unity and diversity.In doing so, it provides us with a model for how we can navigate our own complex social dynamics, especially in times of crisis and trauma.

God鈥檚 Partners in Torah

Oct 25, 2024 By Robert Harris | Commentary | Bereishit

The ancient rabbinic Sages taught that the people of Israel must consider themselves, 砖讜转驻讬讜 砖诇 讛拽讚讜砖 讘专讜讱 讛讜讗 讘诪注砖讛 讘专讗砖讬转 鈥淕od鈥檚 partner in the work of creation鈥� (BT, Shabbat 119b and elsewhere). Often overlooked is that reading the Torah鈥檚 opening (讘专讗砖讬转 讘专讗 讗诇讛讬诐…, which I am deliberatively leaving untranslated for now) demands a similar type of partnership. The reason for this is that the opening of the Torah contains impenetrably difficult syntax. Let us consider the very first verse: 讘职旨专值讗砖执讈讬转 讘指旨专指讗 讗直诇止讛执讬诐 讗值转 讛址砖指旨讈诪址讬执诐 讜职讗值转 讛指讗指专侄抓. If we were to translate this verse literally, and absolutely retaining the order of the words, we would understand it along these lines: 鈥淚n the beginning of, he-created God (did), heavens and earth . . . 鈥� This is a far cry from the affecting cadence of the majestic King James Bible鈥檚 translation, 鈥淚n the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.鈥� The question is, given the difficult syntax, what does this verse 鈥渁ctually鈥� mean?

Rebecca Galin – Senior Sermon (RS ’25)

Oct 22, 2024 By 91快活林 Senior Sermon | Commentary | Senior Sermon | Bereishit

Rebecca Galin’s Senior Sermon on Bereishit

Lessons from Kohelet: If There Is Nothing New Under the Sun, How Do We Solve Our Gigantic Contemporary Problems?

Oct 16, 2024 By Stephanie Ruskay | Commentary | Sukkot

Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) is read during Sukkot, and at this moment I鈥檓 finding it to be precisely the wisdom I need. When I feel worried about the many crises we face, the idea that there is nothing new under the sun can be comforting. To me it means we have what we need to address the problem. We need to have humility and consider the tools God has given us and those humans have developed over time. Our main task is to find the right formula. Though breakthrough discoveries and new inventions exist, often what we seek is the right old tool in the proper configuration. It is a question of titration.

More Than the Motions

Oct 13, 2024 By Joel Seltzer | Commentary | Yom Kippur

The haftarah, from Isaiah chapter 57, was chosen precisely to prevent the type of self-congratulatory behavior that we humans exhibit when we play the 鈥渄utiful child,鈥� while simultaneously managing to miss our larger purpose.

Sacred Words in Liturgy and Life

Oct 11, 2024 By Shira Billet | Commentary | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

Human communication, the commitment to taking words seriously and to viewing the words we write and speak as serious commitments, has become even more imperiled in an age where our words are mediated through the technologies of social media, artificial intelligence, and the crippling social phenomena of political polarization and widespread mistrust.

Hope Through Tears

Oct 4, 2024 By Joel Seltzer | Commentary | Rosh Hashanah

The haftarah for the second day of Rosh Hashanah echoes both the violence and the promise of the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac, as Israel is described as 鈥渢he people escaped from the sword鈥� (Jer. 31:2), while God promises, 鈥淭here is hope for your future鈥攜our children shall return to their country鈥� (31:17).

Pour Out Your Hearts

Oct 3, 2024 By Joel Seltzer | Commentary | Rosh Hashanah

Hannah provides a powerful paradigm of prayer for us on these Days of Awe. Are we concerned with how we may appear when we are in prayer?

Crying With God

Oct 1, 2024 By Gordon Tucker | Commentary | Rosh Hashanah

In an essay some years ago, the Israeli teacher and poet Sara Friedland ben Arza asked us to focus on the prayer Hayom Harat Olam (Today the World Stands as at Birth) in the Rosh Hashanah liturgy. She asks why, in a religious tradition that moved away so notably from ancient mythological motifs, is there a rare reference to the 鈥渂irthing鈥� of the world? And why is that short prayer placed just after the shofar
is blown?