JTS Torah Archive

We Do Matter

Aug 31, 2015 By David Hoffman | Short Video | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

Expelling Our Own Scapegoats

Oct 3, 2014 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Yom Kippur

This coming Shabbat culminates the period of ‘aseret yemei teshuvah, the 10 days of repentance, as we commemorate Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

The Difference a Day Can Make

Oct 3, 2014 By Burton L. Visotzky | Commentary | Yom Kippur

Wouldn’t it be grand to wipe the slate clean? What if there were a day in the calendar when the slate was simply wiped clean once again? No marks against you. No petty quarrels remembered, no grudges borne, no more grievances for trespasses petty or grievous. What if?

On This Very Day

Sep 26, 2014 By Joel Alter | Commentary | Ha'azinu | Shabbat Shuvah | Yom Kippur

It’s difficult to overstate the pathos of Moshe’s last days. This man (and he is most assuredly a man, not a god, not a saint), who never wanted to be a leader—and after his first, impulsive attempt at leading was met with contempt from those he tried to save and condemnation from Pharaoh, his adoptive father (Exod. 2:11–15)—carried the burdens of prophetic leadership with fierce loyalty to both of his masters, God and the people.

The Potter Loves The Clay

Sep 9, 2014 By Lilly Kaufman | Short Video | Yom Kippur

God Of Mercy, God Of Justice

Sep 9, 2014 By Daniel Nevins | Short Video | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

The Origins Of Avinu Malkenu

Sep 9, 2014 By Judith Hauptman | Short Video | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

Approaching The King

Sep 9, 2014 By Nancy Abramson | Short Video | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

The Artist As Teacher

Sep 9, 2014 By David C. Kraemer | Short Video | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

Explore the Esslingen Mahzor

The Gift Of Community

Sep 9, 2014 By Joel Alter | Short Video | Yom Kippur

The Power of Words

Jul 18, 2014 By Eliezer B. Diamond | Commentary | Mattot | Yom Kippur

Are words important? This is a question that bedevils us as human beings.

Taking What Isn’t Ours

Sep 11, 2013 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Yom Kippur

It’s not literally a skeleton in my closet, but I was still upset to find it hanging there.

The Discipline of Atonement

Sep 11, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Yom Kippur

This coming Shabbat culminates the period of aseret yamei teshuvah, the ten days of repentance, as we commemorate Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Ne‘ilah: Final Closing, or Not Quite?

Sep 11, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Yom Kippur

“P’tach lanu sha’ar” (Keep open the gate for us) are the words of a fragment of a piyyut attributed to Elazar Kallir (6th century, Land of Israel) [see the Rabbinical Assembly’s Mahzor Lev Shalem, 414]. 

Finding God and Ourselves Anew

Sep 3, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Ha'azinu | Shabbat Shuvah | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

During the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we devote ourselves to the process of repentance, attempting to tip the balance in our favor as we approach the Day of Atonement.

Moving Forward Meaningfully

Aug 28, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Nitzavim | Vayeilekh | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

The parashiyot of Nitzavim–Vayeilekh are intimately woven into the rhythm of the liturgical year as they are typically read either immediately preceding Rosh Hashanah or during the intervening Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

The Fiction of Teshuvah

Nov 20, 2012

Does anyone ever really change their ways? Can we become “someone new”? Is teshuvah really possible, or is it just fiction? Best-selling authors Susan Isaacs and Linda Fairstein as they discuss this topic through the characters in their books.

How to Love Yom Kippur

Sep 12, 2012 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Yom Kippur

The importance of “permission to pray with those who have transgressed,” recited immediately before chanting Kol Nidrei, is underlined in some congregations by the practice of repeating the words three times for added emphasis. The declaration clearly has enormous rhetorical power. But what does it mean? How can these words, this claim, help propel us forward into Kol Nidrei and beyond?

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.

The Gift of Anxiety and Dread

Oct 8, 2011 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Yom Kippur

About a year ago, I had a conversation with a friend in which he described the way he had experienced his life to that point. He said it felt as if he were a passenger on a train, and that being on a train meant there was a set destination and stops along the way, and absolutely no deviation from the proscribed course. It wasn’t that he was unhappy with the direction; it wasn’t that he regretted any stop he had made along the way. What bothered him was a particular moment of realization: he wasn’t sure what was driving the engines or even if he wanted to continue on that particular track.