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?
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What Makes Groups Reject Their Own?
Dec 20, 2024 By Rabbi Yael Shmilovitz | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Vayeshev
The best way to bring folks together is to give them a real good enemy. The Wizard of Oz in Wicked (2024) Joseph’s brothers resent him so much they can’t even stand the sight of him: 讜址讬执旨砖职讉谞职讗讜旨 讗止转讜止 讜职诇止讗 讬指讻职诇讜旨 讚址旨讘职旨专讜止 诇职砖指讈诇止诐 (Gen 37:4)鈥攖hey hated him so much they could not dabro leshalom. The commentators […]
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When Jacob Met Esau: Facing Our Fears
Dec 13, 2024 By Gordon Tucker | Commentary | Vayishlah
The story told in Parashat Vayishlah聽of the meeting between Jacob and Esau is well known.聽But a closer consideration of the details of the tale speaks to very contemporary concerns.聽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?聽Are the loud sounds they are making just the sounds of 400 excited people from a demonstrative culture, or are those cries of war?聽Jacob assumed the worst. He didn’t bother asking the messengers who reported Esau’s approach whether the 400 men were armed or not.聽Jacob reflexively got ready for battle
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Going Out to Meet God and History
Dec 6, 2024 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Vayetzei
In what ways do the 黑料社 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 黑料社 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.
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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.
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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.
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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�
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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?聽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.聽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.
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