Between Cursing and Blessing, Peace and Truth

Jul 4, 2014 By Tim Daniel Bernard | Commentary | Balak

That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.” Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. And God was very angry when he went. (Num. 22:20–22)

Questions with Answers and Questions Without Answers: Science and Religion

Jan 29, 2014

Dr. Alan Lightman and Rabbi Jack Moline discuss both how science and religion conflict, and how they can sometimes work harmoniously.

Religion, Science, and Wonder

Feb 17, 2010 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

Look up at the natural world, and what do you see? You see a world filled with so much wonder and greatness that only a divine being could have created it. However, modern science explains these wonders with complex explanations and equations, showing that God might not have been the creator of this world. Dr. Janna Levin, professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College, and Rabbi Shai Held, cofounder and rosh yeshiva at Mechon Hadar and chair in Jewish Thought look at these different thoughts.

A Conversation on Creation and Evolution

Nov 17, 2009 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

One of the most hotly debated contradictions between the Bible and current scientific knowledge is creationism and Darwin’s theory of evolution. In this program, two leading philosophers, Lenn Goodman and Philip Kitcher, address this perceived conflict.

Terumah – The Gift That Elevates

Jan 29, 2014 By Eitan Fishbane | Commentary | Terumah

Sometimes we all feel like we’re giving more than we get, that we do more than our share, or that our individual needs are being sacrificed for the sake of someone else’s happiness.

Wise And Simple: A Rabbinic Ideal

Apr 8, 2014 By Lilly Kaufman | Short Video | Pesah

When Theology Fails

Mar 17, 2009 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Shemini | Yom Hashoah

There is a fearful symmetry to the three chapters that make up this week’s parashah; symmetry made all the more fearful because the harmonies of theme and structure in Sh’mini contrast so mightily with the awful events it describes. 

What Did Abraham Actually Know?

Oct 30, 2015 By Tim Daniel Bernard | Commentary | Vayera

“But was he really as strongly convinced of such a revealed doctrine, and also of its meaning, as is required for daring to destroy a human being on its basis?”

—Immanuel Kant, Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason §4, transl. George di Giovanni

What would you do if a voice told you to sacrifice your child?