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The World as Liminal: Genesis and the Incompleteness of Creation
Jan 30, 2023 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Public Event video | Video Lecture
The story of creation in the first chapter of the Torah is one of the most familiar but least understood texts in the Bible. When viewed within its historical context it is a very strange story, because it lacks the expected ending. We will look for the proper ending of the story elsewhere in the Torah. Finding it will allow us to understand a core aspect of biblical theology: that the world God created is incomplete. Poised between chaos and perfection, creation itself is designed to be liminal. That aspect of biblical theology, surprisingly enough, will remind us of a famous idea articulated more than two millennia later in kabbalistic literature.
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How Does Moses Cope When Expectations Fall Short?
Jan 27, 2023 By Andy Weissfeld | Commentary | Bo
Imagine the disappointment or sadness one can feel when a much more important matter fails to go as hoped. Moses finds himself in this situation in this week’s parashah, as God’s promise to free the Israelites has yet to fully play out. How does Moses cope with the fact that his expectations have not yet been met? One especially challenging section of our parashah offers a clue.
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Searching for the Sacred: Why Jewish Theology Still Matters
Jan 25, 2023
Can Jewish thought help us understand our role in confronting climate change? Can it guide us when facing the loss of a loved one? In our modern, technology-saturated society, are there ways to feel close to God, to sense and appreciate sacred moments? Can Jewish theology speak to issues we care about and bring greater meaning to our lives? Rabbi Neil Gillman (z”l)—who taught theology at JTS and at countless synagogues during his long and distinguished career—believed that Jewish theology should be the province of all Jews and that it should honestly address the challenges of the day.
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Why Did Moses Have a Speech Disability?
Jan 20, 2023 By Sarah Wolf | Commentary | Va'era
Moses is the quintessential prophet in the Jewish tradition. Moses’s job, like the task of all other prophets, is to convey the word of God to the people. He fulfills this role, the Torah tells us, in exemplary fashion: “Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses” (Deut. 34:10). Moses is not just the paradigm for all prophets that follow, he is the best in the business. But if Moses is supposed to serve as the first and foremost prophet—that is, to be the expert at telling people what God wants from them—why would God choose a mouthpiece who has a speech disability?
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God’s Human Partner
Jan 13, 2023 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Shemot
This week marks the 50th yahrzeit of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel z”l. When visiting mourners in the immediate days after their loss, we comfort them by invoking God as Ha-Makom, the One who is present in every Place, as if to affirm that even when darkness befalls us, God is not absent. The absolute omnipresence of God in this unique divine name captures the very essence of Abraham Joshua Heschel’s resolve and courage to believe after the Holocaust.
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The Space In Between: Thresholds and Borders in Jewish Life and Thought
Jan 12, 2023 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video | Video Lecture
In this series, JTS scholars will delve into the idea of liminality—the time or space in between—which we encounter often in Jewish ritual, identity, law, and life. Join us to consider what these many manifestations of “in-between-ness” can teach us about ourselves and about Judaism, and to explore how we might find strength and meaning in an orientation not of “either/or” but of “both/and.”
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Mishnah Study in Observance of the Yahrzeit of Abraham Joshua Heschel (z”l)
Jan 11, 2023 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video
The evening of January 10, 2023/18 Tevet 5783 marked the fiftieth yahrzeit of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (z”l). It is a traditional custom, especially in the Hasidic world in which Rabbi Heschel was nurtured, to study mishnah on a yahrzeit, focusing on mishnayot beginning with letters that spell out the name of the departed soul. It is considered to be anעילוי נשמה –a way of giving the soul yet another ascension (noting that in Hebrew, “mishnah” is an anagram of “neshamah” [soul]).
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Parenting Lessons from the Parashah
Jan 6, 2023 By Jonathan Milgram | Commentary | Vayehi
Parashat Vayehi, the final parashah in the book of Genesis, presents the Israelites on the cusp of a major transition. While Genesis highlights family relations, Exodus introduces the idea of peoplehood. Genesis closes with a family gathering and, by next week, the Israelites will be described as a nation. What lessons does Genesis, and Vayehi in particular, offer about effective parenting? And what can the Torah teach us about the relationship between family and nation?
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The Gradual Journey to Forgiveness
Dec 30, 2022 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayiggash
Parashat Vayiggash opens with the dramatic encounter between Joseph and his older brother, Judah. Judah, who years earlier had cooperated with his brothers to betray Joseph, seems to be on the verge of losing his father’s other favored son, Benjamin, as well. He makes an impassioned plea to Joseph, offering himself as a hostage in Benjamin’s stead. As it turns out, Judah’s altruism is more than Joseph can withstand. While he was able to hold back and hide his identity numerous times, letting his brothers squirm in discomfort before the strange Egyptian man, this time is different. Joseph reveals his identity. The moment is one of closeness, of reconciliation, and of Joseph’s recognition that it was not his brothers’ deeds but rather God’s plan that had guided the events of his latter years.
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Joseph, Hanukkah, and the Dilemmas of Assimilation
Dec 23, 2022 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Miketz | Hanukkah
Ruminations about assimilation come naturally to Jews in North America during the winter holiday season. How much should a parent insist that Hanukkah is part of public school celebrations that give students a heavy dose of Christmas? How often should one remind store clerks who innocently ask Jewish children which gifts they hope to receive from Santa this year that there are other faiths observed in our communities, and other holidays? Intermarried couples are familiar with conversations about having a Christmas tree at home, or going to midnight mass, or allowing their kids to open gifts Christmas morning under the tree at their cousins’ home. The Hanukkah story is the perfect stimulus for such reflections, especially when read, as some historians do, not as a conflict between Jews and a tyrannical government, but as a dispute among Jews themselves over which Greek customs are acceptable and which cross the line to assimilation or apostasy.
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Where Do We Draw the Line? The Importance of Highlighting Multiple Perspectives in Jewish Education
Dec 19, 2022 By Meredith Katz | Public Event video | Video Lecture
Jewish educators address many goals, including building Jewish literacy and Jewish identity. To these ends, they make decisions constantly as curricular gate-keepers, or censors with a purpose. Why and how should they introduce students to the perspectives of those with whom they might not agree, both within and outside the Jewish community? This session explores the importance of highlighting multiple perspectives and helping students develop the skills to navigate conversations with those with whom they disagree, as a key component of civic education in Jewish settings.
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JTS Dayenu Circle: Eight Days of Climate Torah
Dec 18, 2022
This year for Hanukkah, the JTS Dayenu Circle – The Jewish Theological Seminary’s chapter of Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action – is sharing Eight Days of Climate Torah. The Hanukkah story is a reminder that the Jewish community can take bold collective action to change our fate. We hope these teachings from JTS […]
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The Power of Tamar
Dec 16, 2022 By Aaron Leven | Commentary | Vayeshev
Parashat Vayeshev begins our four-week journey through the story of Yosef. Yosef’s narrative, perhaps the most developed and detailed character arc outside of Moshe’s, is one of growth, reconciliation, and redemption. And yet, in the very middle of our parashah, we confront the deeply problematic story of Yehudah and Tamar. For many readers, this is a challenging story. Why is it placed in the middle of the parashah? How are we supposed to feel about the characters? Does the story have anything to teach us?
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Between the Lines: The Stories They Tell
Dec 13, 2022 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video
Dr. Judith Hauptman upends the long-held theory of the immutability of halakhah, Jewish law. In her detailed analysis of over 80 short halakhic anecdotes in the Babylonian Talmud, she shows that the Talmud itself promotes halakhic change. She leads the reader through one sugya (discussion unit) after another, accumulating evidence for her rather radical thesis. Along the […]
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The Hollywood Blacklist and the Whitewashing of American Culture
Dec 12, 2022 By Ellie Gettinger | Public Event video | Video Lecture
The Hollywood Blacklist is one censorious aspect of the larger Red Scare that limited the freedoms of speech and assembly through the 1950s. Yet the political policing and litmus tests required for screenwriters, actors, and producers in this period led to a monumental shift in the way that American culture was represented on screen (both large and small). This session explores the political climate that led to the blacklist and how it fundamentally changed the film industry.
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Can We Be Empowered by Patriarchal Texts?
Dec 9, 2022 By Alison L. Joseph | Commentary | Vayishlah
I have long been bothered by the story of Dinah in Genesis 34. This narrative, often referred to as the “Rape of Dinah,” is difficult to read, not only because sexual violence against a young woman is employed as a plot device, but also because I’m not sure why the story is included in the Torah in the first place. My concern with the story is more acute when I read it within our liturgical calendar as just another episode in the Jacob cycle (Gen. 25–35).
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Censoring the Holocaust: How Books Shape Our View of a Painful Past
Dec 5, 2022 By Edna Friedberg | Public Event video | Video Lecture
Ever since the 1940s, books about the Holocaust have proven flashpoints. From early editions of The Diary of Anne Frank that omitted controversial passages to more recent attempts to ban the graphic memoir Maus from some classrooms, what we read about this difficult history often amplifies broader societal debates. In this session we look back at Holocaust literature (both fiction and non-fiction) and how its popularity shifts depending on time and place.
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JTS Rabbinic Convocation, December 2022
Dec 5, 2022 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video
Honor a Rabbi with a Donation to JTS We invite you to make a contribution to JTS in honor of your rabbi or one of the other Conservative rabbis recognized for over 25 years of distinguished service. Your gift helps educate a new generation of spiritual leaders for the Jewish people. Program PROCESSIONAL (0:00)Opening niggun […]
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Between the Lines: The Object of Jewish Literature
Dec 5, 2022 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video
THE OBJECT OF JEWISH LITERATURE: A MATERIAL HISTORY JTS Professor Barbara E. Mann discusses her latest book, The Object of Jewish Literature, a history of modern Jewish literature that explores our enduring attachment to the book as an object. With the rise of digital media, the “death of the book” has been widely discussed. But the physical object […]
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Was Laban Really Worse than Pharaoh?
Dec 2, 2022 By Avi Garelick | Commentary | Vayetzei
According to the Passover Haggadah, Laban, Jacob’s father-in-law, is the archvillain of Jewish history, even more dangerous than the Pharaoh who enslaved the people of Israel and launched a campaign of male infanticide. Yet, after this provocative comparison, the Haggadah leaves the rest as an exercise for the reader. Laban “sought to uproot it all,” but how? What makes Laban so dangerous?
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