Birth, Both Spiritual and Physical
Apr 2, 2011 By Andrew Shugerman | Commentary | Text Study | Tazria
How can men understand something like pregnancy, which is so fundamentally foreign to the male experience? As contemporary Jews, we often raise questions about how our classical sources, compiled by men, portray “the other,” in this case, child-bearing women. We find in the midrash above an ancient rabbi’s attempt to understand childbirth, the opening subject of this week’s Torah portion, and identify men’s role in it.
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Why We Rejoice
Sep 23, 2010 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Text Study | Sukkot
We are blessed with so much—until we are not. Which is why we don’t count chickens before they hatch or rejoice before the crops are in: it ain’t over till it’s over.
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The Roots of Our Ideals
Sep 3, 2011 By Andrew Shugerman | Commentary | Text Study | Shofetim
“Peacetime” may seem today like a distant memory, yet ancient texts like the midrash above show how far we have advanced from the conflicts of biblical times. If our Sages could express that insight in their generation (nearly two millennia ago and just centuries after Israel conquered Canaan), it behooves us to appreciate how our Torah has inspired us and our non-Jewish allies to pursue peace in this global age.
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A Deserved Punishment
Dec 25, 2010 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Text Study | Shemot
The only thing juicier than a murder mystery is a murder mystery involving illicit sex. The midrashic imagination has woven a wonderful narrative to excuse Moses of the murder he commits in Exodus 2:12. It is a wonderful story from rabbinic literature that is worth sharing in and of itself.
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Rituals and Ethics in our Food
Nov 27, 2010 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Text Study | Vayeshev
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than forty-five million turkeys are cooked and eaten in the U.S. at Thanksgiving. In 2010, more than 242 million turkeys are being raised with an average liveweight per bird of twenty-eight pounds. By contrast, in 1970, only 105 million birds were raised, with an average liveweight of seventeen pounds.
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Silence Speaks Volumes
Mar 26, 2011 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Text Study | Shemini
We’ve all been on both sides of this story. Sometimes we find ourselves as the one in mourning or going through a particularly hard time, having to put up with the well-intentioned words of friends and acquaintances that inadvertently rub salt in our wounds; and at other times, we find ourselves trying to offer words of comfort, and speaking banalities that—even as they come out of our mouths—we realize are of no help.
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Holding On to Torah
Jun 18, 2011 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Text Study | Shelah Lekha
The metaphor is wonderful: the man at sea is Israel, grasping the tzitzit, with God the Captain of the ship stretching out a hand, holding the other end of the lifeline. As with all metaphors, it is not to be taken literally.
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Consequences as Judgement
Aug 27, 2011 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Text Study | Re'eh
Part of the problem with the theology of reward and punishment (or blessings and curses, as it is couched in the parashah this week) is that we know it to not be true. We have all seen good people live and die tragically, and others deserving punishment living long, happy lives. It is difficult, as sophisticated thinkers, to apply the reward-and-punishment idea in any satisfying way to reality as we know it.
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