JTS Torah Commentary

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.

Remembering Pesah 1946

Apr 22, 2016 By Avinoam Patt | Commentary | Pesah

Every Passover as we read the Haggadah, we recite:

In each and every generation, a person is obligated to regard himself as though he actually left Egypt. As it says: “You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of this that God took me out of Egypt.’” (Exodus 13:8)

Seventy years ago, in April 1946, the first Passover in postwar Germany followed the liberation of the concentration camps. The survivors who gathered to form the She’erit Hapletah, the surviving remnant, felt this transition from slavery in a more immediate sense than any generation of the children of Israel in the 2,000 years that preceded them. 

Beyond the Exodus from Egypt

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

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)?

Up All Night

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

A New Dayeinu

Jan 22, 2016 By Gerald Cohen | Commentary | Beshallah

As we progress through the cycle of Torah readings, we come to associate certain stories with a particular time of year: the creation story in early fall, Joseph and his brothers later in that season, the revolt of Korah in the summer. The story of this week’s Torah reading, however, has a double life in the course of the year: we associate it with the winter when we read the parashah in the cycle, but it also becomes the focus of our spring Pesah celebration in a few months. 

Discovering Love at Dawn

Jan 15, 2016 By Benjamin Resnick | Commentary | Bo

The photograph above—my last before becoming a parent—was taken early in the morning on January 7, 2015, the coldest day of a very young year. In my imagination, Jonah was born just after, as the sun was rising over the city. In reality, he was not. He was born at 11:11a.m., when the sun was already high in the sky. But, like the Doe of the Morning, I remember him coming at dawn.

Holiday Webinars for Rabbis Archive

Dec 23, 2015

The resources on this page were produced exclusively for rabbis. Please exercise discretion when sharing. Malchuyot, Zichronot, Shofarot:A Roadmap for Our Timeswith Rabbi Ayelet Cohen(High Holidays 5786)Download SourcesGuiding Our Broken Hearts into the New Year Confession And Communitywith Rabbi Gordon Tucker(High Holidays 5786)Download SourcesIn the Plural: Communal Confession and Ethical Clarity Commemorating October 7: A […]

Grief in a Time of Joy

Oct 2, 2015 By Alex Braver | Commentary | Sukkot

My mother was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia the day before Erev Rosh Hashanah last year. Through the Days of Awe we discussed her genetic profile, her symptoms, bone marrow transplants, and chemotherapy. We approached Hanukkah unsure of what was working and what wasn’t. She died on Purim.

“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.

“Echad Mi Yodea” (“Who Knows One?”)

Apr 2, 2015 By Sarah Diamant | Commentary | Pesah

“Echad Mi Yodea” is a traditional cumulative-number song found in the Haggadah. Each verse circles back to the Oneness of God.

The Four Parents

Mar 27, 2015 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol | Pesah

Let’s think for a moment, inspired by one of the seder’s most famous passages, about the four kinds of parents who are found around the seder table: wise, wicked, innocent, and not knowing how to ask.

Crackers for God

Mar 16, 2015 By William Friedman | Commentary | Shabbat Hahodesh | Vayikra | Pesah

What kind of gift would you give a king? In the interests of both respect and self-preservation, probably the nicest thing you could afford! And if you’d give this to a human king, how much more would you give to the King of Kings of Kings? And yet the Torah prescribes that any grain offered in the Temple cannot contain either yeast or honey. That’s right: the only appropriate grain offering for God is matzah—the tasteless cracker that is about to become the source of so much complaining on Passover! Why would the Torah tell us to do such a thing?

Leadership in the Bible: A Practical Guide for Today

Feb 19, 2015 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

How would Abraham, Joseph, and Moses respond to the 40 most difficult situations you encounter in daily life?

Where Does Midrash Begin?

Jan 23, 2015 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Commentary | Bo

In this week’s parashah we find the first legal passage in the Torah, Exodus 12, which contains laws concerning Passover. Torah as a type of literature is best defined as a combination of law and narrative. In Torah we read not only some laws here and some narratives there, but laws that are authenticated and explained by the narrative, and narrative whose purpose is to motivate us to observe the laws. Since we first encounter law in this week’s parashah, in a significant way it is here that the Torah begins in earnest.

From Reflection to Appreciation

Sep 12, 2014 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Ki Tavo

Having underscored the role of memory at the conclusion of last week’s parashah (remembering the cruelty of Amalek), the Torah now accentuates the importance of appreciation in Parashat Ki Tavo.

The Suffering of Loss

Jun 20, 2014 By Shira D. Epstein | Commentary | Korah

We have grown accustomed to an incessant newsfeed scrolling of horrific natural-disaster footage.

“This Year We Are Slaves”: How and Why Do We Celebrate Freedom in the Face of Oppression?

Apr 18, 2014 By Eliezer B. Diamond z”l | Commentary | Pesah

What does it mean to celebrate Passover in the shadow of death?

The Meaning of the Shmurah Matzah

Apr 18, 2014 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Pesah

One of the centerpieces of seder night is the eating of matzah, the unleavened bread.

Preparing for Seder Part 3—Visual Midrash on the Four Children

Apr 11, 2014 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Pesah

The four children (formerly known as the four sons) are among the most provocative part of the seder—for children provoke their parents. That is why Elijah is needed to restore peace between the generations. The evolution of the text as we find it in our Haggadah is complex, and interesting explanations can be found in the recent JTS collection of Sound Bytes of Torah for Passover on YouTube. I have long been fascinated by the interpretation in imagery that offers four books, presumably each book representing one of the four “types” of child. But which one is which?

For Millennials and Their Families

Apr 10, 2014 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol | Pesah

I gathered six students from JTS’s undergraduate Albert A. List College of Jewish Studies in my office last week to talk about the ways in which family dynamics add meaning—and tension—to family Passover seders. I wanted to find out how these dynamics play out at the seders of my students, and share their insights with you here—millennials and college students, teens and tweens—in the hope that our discussion about the holiday will enrich yours.