JTS Torah Archive

Taking Responsibility for Our Mistakes

Jun 16, 2012 By David Levy | Commentary | Text Study | Shelah Lekha

Why would God have made a plan that backfired so badly? Resh Lakish would have us understand that God’s plans were fine; it was ours that went south, when Moses acquiesced to the peoples’ need for a report.

Raising the King’s Sons

May 19, 2012 By David Levy | Commentary | Behar | Behukkotai

In Parashat Behukkotai, God spells out a list of blessings that will come if the Israelites will follow God’s rules. This is followed by a harrowing list of curses that will ensue if the Israelites fail in this task. Finally, at the end of chapter 26, God foretells that even after the curses, when the Israelites repent, He will remember the covenants He made with our ancestors, and will remember the land. 

Aaron’s Silence

Apr 21, 2012 By David Levy | Commentary | Text Study | Shemini

The midrash is a sound warning to us all that our anger clouds our judgment and, worse, can inhibit our compassion. These, after all, were Moses’s nephews, both those lost and those mourning.

Sacrifices Seen Through Love and Law

Mar 31, 2012 By David Levy | Commentary | Text Study | Pesah

Every year, the weeks during which the Torah portions of Leviticus are read, many Jews complain about the challenge of finding interest or meaning in such esoteric material. I, myself, also struggle to engage deeply with these texts when I forget that even our ancient Sages felt the need to bolster the relevance of these laws, which largely became defunct after the Second Temple was destroyed.

Of Willing Heart

Feb 25, 2012 By David Levy | Commentary | Text Study | Terumah

God seems not to be seeking out the work alone, but more the voluntary offering. I find this to be incredibly encouraging.

The Final Plague

Jan 28, 2012 By David Levy | Commentary | Text Study | Bo

Each year, when we read the Exodus story and again when we encounter it at the Passover seder, we are confronted with a serious moral question. We must ask ourselves how we feel about the nature of the collective punishment of the Egyptians.

Tears for the Temples

Dec 31, 2011 By David Levy | Commentary | Text Study | Hanukkah

Reading this makes me think of the breaking of the glass during a Jewish wedding ceremony. In a moment of sheer joy at the marriage, we break a glass to remember the Temple and that our joy cannot be complete in light of its destruction. Here, too, the Rabbis imagine, Joseph and Benjamin cannot fully enjoy their moment with the foreknowledge that the Temples will be destroyed.

Honoring Teachers

Nov 26, 2011 By David Levy | Commentary | Text Study | Vayetzei

Picking up on the surprising mention of Abraham as Jacob’s father, we learn an important lesson about the roles different people can play in our lives. Each of us who has been taught by someone is obliged to honor him/her as we would our parents. And the extension of this teaching is that each of us has the potential to play this important role in someone else’s life.

Gifts to God

Nov 5, 2011 By David Levy | Commentary | Text Study | Lekh Lekha

The midrash seems to be pointing out that we can learn from Abraham: we are to give a gift to God when we receive good news.

The Prosecuting Angel

Oct 8, 2011 By David Levy | Commentary | Yom Kippur

Leviticus 16:33

And he shall make atonement for the most holy place, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar; and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.

Going Up in Holiness

Nov 27, 2010 By David Levy | Commentary | Vayeshev | Hanukkah

Next Wednesday night, Hanukkah begins and Jews all over the world will gather around the menorah to light one candle for the first night of Hanukkah. We take it for granted that we light a candle on the first night, two on the second, and so on, but it could have been different.