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Back to JTS Torah Online's Main pageWhat Do Tefillin Do?
Jan 19, 2024 By Lara Rodin | Commentary | Bo
Our sages explained that the placement of our tefillin as a “sign upon our hands” and a “reminder on our foreheads” is meant to represent the intellect (tefillin shel rosh) and the physicality (tefillin shel yad) of a person. For Keli Yakar, Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz, both the tefillin that sits on our arm and the tefillin that sits above our eyes are meant to represent the dichotomy that is at play between thought and action.
Read MoreWhen the Nile Gave Up Its Terrible Secret
Jan 12, 2024 By Eliezer B. Diamond | Commentary | Va'era
Rabbinic commentators, in referring to an earlier exegete, sometimes say, “His interpretation requires its own interpretation.” All the more so it can be said that a midrashic interpretation sometimes needs its own midrashic interpretation, for in an effort to solve theological or textual difficulties, the midrash can present us with farfetched, even phantasmagoric, scenarios. Upon deeper reflection, however, we often discover that these phantasms are actually manifestations of profound truths. Let’s consider such a midrash, which both illuminates and is illuminated by a passage in this week’s Torah portion.
Read MoreMoshe the Mindful?
Jan 5, 2024 By Lilliana Shvartsmann | Commentary | Shemot
Moshe’s journey mirrors the struggles many face in navigating transitions and seeking purpose amidst uncertainty. The 19th-century Polish commentator Ha’emek Hadavar suggests Moshe intentionally led his flock to the most remote location, a place no other shepherd dared venture, seeking solitude. He needed such desolation to encounter God. While we don’t know if Moshe had his own meditation, journaling, or spiritual practices that promoted solitude, his courage and strength in recognizing the necessity of solitude are evident.
Read MoreIs it Heretical to Ask God for Protection?
Dec 29, 2023 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Commentary | Vayehi
Jacob’s words of blessing to Joseph in chapter 48 surprise me every time that I read them. Though putatively an attempt to bless his son, they are primarily directed at his grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and gain authority from Jacob’s fathers and from the shepherding and redeeming God he has known so intimately throughout his life.
Read MoreThe Reason(s) Jacob Went Down to Egypt
Dec 22, 2023 By Ira Tokayer | Commentary | Vayiggash
Parashat Vayiggash is a good place to illustrate the modern scholarship, which sees the Torah’s Joseph story as a combination of three source documents with separate accounts of how and why Jacob descended to Egypt.
Read MoreA World in Crisis Needs a Yosef
Dec 15, 2023 By Avi Garelick | Commentary | Miketz
Our society today faces crises of overwhelming proportions on many fronts—some observers have called our situation one of polycrisis, to emphasize how crises interact and amplify each other. Climate change is breathing down our necks, wars proliferate, and pandemics threaten our health, all while governments struggle to react sufficiently. Many who enjoy relative peace and affluence suffer from a sense of helplessness and foreboding. We need a Yosef.
Read MoreTamar, Our Mother
Dec 8, 2023 By Yael Landman | Commentary | Vayeshev
Parashat Vayeshev begins the story of Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son. But just after this narrative kicks off, the text veers for the length of a chapter into the story of another of Jacob’s sons, Judah, as well as Judah’s three sons and his daughter-in-law Tamar. Just as the Joseph story is foundational for the broader narrative of B’nei Yisrael—the children of Jacob who become the Israelites—the story of Judah and Tamar is foundational as well.
Read MoreRemember Dinah; Listen to Women
Dec 1, 2023 By Rabbi Ayelet Cohen | Commentary | Vayishlah
Dinah’s story is often overlooked in a parashah rich with other narratives that are easier and more pleasant to explore. But this is not a time to shy away from difficult stories or avoid stories of sexual violence. Shabbat Vayishlah can be an opportunity for our communities to center the stories of women and girls in their fullness and explore the ways our communities can become communities of support.
Read MoreCaleb Brommer – Senior Sermon (RS ’24)
Nov 30, 2023 By JTS Senior Sermon | Commentary | Senior Sermon | Short Video | Vayishlah
Vayishlah All the Class of 2024 Senior Sermons
Read MoreSami Vingron – Senior Sermon (RS ’24)
Nov 28, 2023 By JTS Senior Sermon | Commentary | Senior Sermon | Vayetzei
Vayetzei All the Class of 2024 Senior Sermons
Read MoreListening with Yaakov
Nov 24, 2023 By Naomi Kalish | Commentary | Vayetzei
A Thanksgiving meal, or any family gathering, in our time of divisive politics and social polarization can be a source of great anxiety. How will we remain civil to those with whom we profoundly disagree? Parashat Veyetzei provides us with a model of how one of our ancestors, Yaakov, managed conflict with a family member and was able to move toward reconciliation.
Read MoreIsaac: Schlimazel, or Something More?
Nov 17, 2023 By Aiden Pink | Commentary | Toledot
In his book The Joys of Yiddish, Leo Rosten defines one of the most useful words in our tradition: “When a schlimazel winds a clock, it stops; when he kills a chicken, it walks; when he sells umbrellas, the sun comes out; when he manufactures shrouds, people stop dying” (347).
In the entire Torah, it seems, there is no bigger schlimazel than Isaac.
At the beginning of his life, he’s nearly killed by his father. At the end of his life, he’s deceived by his son. He barely participates in the courtship of his own wife. Isaac is hapless, passive, an eternal victim—the archetypical schlimazel.
Read MoreWho Was Abraham’s Last Wife?
Nov 10, 2023 By Claire Shoyer | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah
Parashat Hayyei Sarah focuses on the devoted relationships between two of our patriarchs and two of our matriarchs. We begin by reading of how Abraham strove to fully acquire the land for Sarah’s burial. We then see that Abraham wanted to find a fitting wife for his son, Isaac. Abraham’s servant brings back Rebecca, and she and Isaac begin a partnership which seems supportive and loving—as soon as Isaac and Rebecca meet, we read that Isaac loves Rebecca and finds comfort in her after his mother’s death (Gen. 24:67). In both accounts, we see that each of these pairs was specifically well-matched. Why, then, does the parshah end by saying, “And again, Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah” (Gen. 25:1)? Who was this additional wife, Keturah, and why do we read about her in the context of the loving relationships of Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac and Rebecca? Is Keturah introduced simply to transmit information about Abraham’s geneaology, or does her presence signify something deeper?
Read MoreJonathon Adler – Senior Sermon (RS ’24)
Nov 8, 2023 By JTS Senior Sermon | Commentary | Senior Sermon | Short Video | Hayyei Sarah
Parshat Hayyei Sarah All the Class of 2024 Senior Sermons
Read MoreHagar’s Tears and Ours: Choosing Connection over Despair
Nov 3, 2023 By Rabbi Ayelet Cohen | Commentary | Vayera | Rosh Hashanah
Genesis offers us narratives of our biblical ancestors struggling with many of the deepest challenges that we may face in our lives, whether in our familial or interpersonal relationships or as we face the uncertainty, fear, and loss of living in a broken world. Throughout the Genesis cycle we encounter families who accept the fallacy that there is not enough blessing to go around, and thus make terrible mistakes. Parents choose favorite children, siblings are pitted against each other as rivals. This year we return to these stories shattered by the horrific violence of the October 7th massacres, as we see a new and terrifying chapter unfold in the primal conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. We know that there is enough suffering and trauma and outrage to go around. We wonder if there is enough compassion or enough hope to carry us through this time.
Read MoreJosh Bender – Senior Sermon (RS ’24)
Nov 2, 2023 By JTS Senior Sermon | Senior Sermon | Short Video | Vayera
Josh Bender Senior Sermon on Parshat Vayera
Read MoreWhat Should We Call Our First Foremother?
Oct 27, 2023 By Sass Brown | Commentary | Lekh Lekha
Twice in this week’s parashah our first foremother’s name is disrupted. First, when she is abducted into Pharaoh’s household in Egypt, she seems to lose her name entirely. Then, in the concluding chapter, God changes her name while she is off screen. In both moments of unnaming, Sarai is voiceless. In both, Avraham receives something grand—a gift, a covenant—while Sarai is elsewhere. Given how similar these two events are for Sarai, it feels like they are asking to be compared. On the other hand, one is an interpersonal episode of a woman suffering while her husband thrives, and the other is the initiation of Avraham’s covenant. Can the mistakes Avraham made in Egypt shed light on the holy charge he receives in the conclusion of Parashat Lekh Lekha?
Read MoreGisel Baler – Senior Sermon (RS ’24)
Oct 25, 2023 By JTS Senior Sermon | Commentary | Senior Sermon | Short Video | Lekh Lekha
Parshat Lekh Lekha All the Class of 2024 Senior Sermons
Read MoreWhat Is the Rainbow Really Teaching Us?
Oct 20, 2023 By Tani Schwartz-Herman | Commentary | Noah
In this week’s parashah we learn the origin story of the rainbow as a symbol. Following the catastrophic flood in which God destroys nearly every living thing, save for Noah and his family and the animals he brings with him onto the ark, God promises never to bring about destruction on the same scale again. God establishes the rainbow as a sign for this covenant, declaring that it will be a reminder for God always: “When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures . . . ”
Read MoreAn Anthology of Beginnings
Oct 13, 2023 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Commentary | Bereishit
The Torah seems to begin twice, in a way not paralleled by any other creation narrative from the ancient Near East. It uses the conventions of ancient literature in a new way. By beginning twice, the Torah announces what sort of a work it intends to be: it is less a book than an anthology, a compendium of numerous viewpoints and competing teachings.
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