JTS Torah Online

Retelling the Story

Apr 7, 2017 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Pesah | Shabbat Hagadol

Here’s a fifth question to ask at the seder this year, in addition to the usual four—a question likely to provoke discussion about the meaning of Passover that is especially timely in April 2017.

Why on all other nights (and days too) do we recall the Exodus from Egypt, but on this night, which is dedicated to the telling of that story, the Haggadah says little about what actually happened at the Exodus, and how it happened?

Two New Tunes for the Seder

Apr 7, 2017 By Nancy Abramson | Commentary | Pesah | Shabbat Hagadol

I have fond memories of my grandfather at the head of the table, chanting the Haggadah straight through in Hebrew. My grandmother, mother, and aunts would be busy in the kitchen while all of us kids were fidgeting, waiting for our cue to sing Mah Nishtanah, the Four Questions. The night of the first seder was always magical for me, and still is, as I try to infuse the tradition with contemporary ideas and some new melodies.

From Generation to Generation Activism is Alive!

Feb 3, 2017 By Jonathan Lipnick | Commentary | Bo | Pesah

My son Noah and I like to take walks together. It affords us time to connect—to talk about food, sports, relationships, and politics, and, once in a while, to explore an existential question.

“If I had never met my grandfather,” Noah once asked me, “is it true to say that I will never really know him?”

“Us” and “Them”

Feb 3, 2017 By Paula Rose | Commentary | Bo | Pesah

“They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat.”

This tongue-in-cheek summary of most Jewish holidays applies most strongly, perhaps, to the Passover Seder. We retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt, we praise and thank God for redeeming us, and then we eat a festive meal. Cast in that light, the story of the Exodus seems so straightforward. The Israelites are innocent victims, somehow pawns in God’s larger plan. The Egyptians, and especially Pharaoh, are wicked, oppressing the Israelites with forced labor.

Festival Ma’ariv (Lower Voice)

Jun 6, 2016 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Prayer Recordings | Pesah | Shavuot | Shemini Atzeret | Simhat Torah | Sukkot

Recordings by Rabbi and Hazzan Seth Adelson
Project coordinator: Rabbi David Freidenreich

Festival Ma’ariv (Higher Voice)

Jun 5, 2016 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Prayer Recordings | Pesah | Shavuot | Shemini Atzeret | Simhat Torah | Sukkot

Recordings by Cantor Arianne BrownProject coordinator: Rabbi David Freidenreich

Festival Shaharit (Lower Voice)

Jun 4, 2016 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Prayer Recordings | Pesah | Shavuot | Shemini Atzeret | Simhat Torah | Sukkot

Recordings by Rabbi and Hazzan Seth Adelson
Project coordinator: Rabbi David Freidenreich

Festival Shaharit (Higher Voice)

Jun 3, 2016 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Prayer Recordings | Pesah | Shavuot | Shemini Atzeret | Simhat Torah | Sukkot

Recordings by Cantor Arianne Brown and Cantor Jennifer Kanarek CahnProject coordinator: Rabbi David Freidenreich

Festival Musaf (Lower Voice)

Jun 2, 2016 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Prayer Recordings | Pesah | Shavuot | Shemini Atzeret | Simhat Torah | Sukkot

Recordings by Rabbi and Hazzan Seth Adelson
Project coordinator: Rabbi David Freidenreich

Festival Musaf (Higher Voice)

Jun 1, 2016 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Prayer Recordings | Pesah | Shavuot | Shemini Atzeret | Simhat Torah | Sukkot

Recordings by Cantor Arianne Brown and Cantor Jennifer Kanarek CahnProject coordinator: Rabbi David Freidenreich

Shevi’i Shel Pesah: Living at the Frontier

Apr 29, 2016 By Lauren Henderson | Commentary | Pesah

On the seventh day of Passover (Shevi’i shel Pesah), we reached the frontier of our existence: Yam Suf, the Sea of Reeds. We had known slavery intimately, becoming deeply comfortable in Egypt even as we clamored to leave. And after all the plagues and darkness and death, we arrived, trembling, at the water’s edge, about to surface and breathe the unfamiliar air of freedom for the first time.

Prophetess, Leader, Musician

Apr 29, 2016 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Pesah

Joy is the theme of the hour as God’s praises are sung during the completion of Hallel.  The image that bursts forth in our mind’s eye is that of Miriam the Prophetess and the women celebrating their newly found freedom on the banks of the Reed Sea. While the moment is solemn, it is also one of intense elation.

A Noble Freedom

Apr 22, 2016 By Tim Daniel Bernard | Commentary | Pesah

Many Virginians of middle and upper ranks aspired to behave like gentlemen. In the early seventeenth century an English gentleman was defined as one who could “live idly and without manual labor.” The words “gentleman” and “independent” were used synonymously, and “independence” in this context meant freedom from the necessity of labor.

—David Hackett Fischer, Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America, 366

Beyond the Exodus from Egypt

Apr 15, 2016 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Pesah | Shabbat Hagadol

Most of us, at one time or another, have asked the question about the Passover seder that the Haggadah attributes to the “wicked son”: What is the point of all this? At such moments of skepticism, we probably understand why an annual family gathering is worthwhile, we perhaps remember fondly the seders of our youth, and we may even confess to being moved by the rituals reenacted at the seder table year after year: reciting the four questions, dripping wine from cup to plate at the recital of the ten plagues, singing Had Gadya. But really, we ask: Why is the event of Israelite slaves leaving Egypt over 3,000 years ago (if it ever happened in the first place) so important that an entire holiday is devoted to it (not to mention countless daily prayers)?

The Whole Story

Apr 13, 2016 By Alex Braver | Short Video | Pesah

Up All Night

Apr 13, 2016 By Judith Hauptman | Short Video | Pesah

Matzah: From Affliction to Redemption

Apr 13, 2016 By | Short Video | Pesah

Retelling Your Story

Apr 13, 2016 By David C. Kraemer | Short Video | Pesah

“I Will Go to the Mountain of Myrrh”

Apr 10, 2015 By Barbara Mann | Commentary | Pesah

The Song of Songs is an essential text for modern Hebrew culture, and was perhaps the most beloved biblical book of modernist authors such as S. Y. Agnon and artists such as Ze’ev Raban (1890–1970). Hebrew fiction writers and poets in Palestine in the interwar period plumbed the Song for its extensive lexicon describing the body and the landscape, and its sensitive depiction of psychological and sexual drama. Their modern descriptions of the land before them were often rendered in terms that recalled the erotic interiors and pastoral domain of the Song. Raban taught at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, and his Jugendstil (German Art Nouveau) illustrations of the Song of Songs (1923) are an exemplary cultural product of their time.

Miriam’s Song and the Role of Music in Prayer

Apr 10, 2015 By Walter Herzberg | Commentary | Pesah

After the sea was parted and the Israelites were rescued from the pursuing Egyptians, Moses and the children of Israel sang the Song of the Sea, praising God for having saved them. Following the conclusion of the song, the Torah relates that Miriam, leading the women, sang as well. What prompted Miriam and the women to rejoice with  song, instrumental music and dance?