JTS Torah Commentary

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 […]

A Tale of Two Dreamers

Dec 18, 2015 By Eliezer B. Diamond z”l | Commentary | Vayiggash

Shortly after Jacob arrives in Egypt Joseph—undoubtedly eager to introduce his father and his patron to each other—arranges an audience with Pharaoh for his father. Following the time honored traditions of polite conversation, Pharaoh asks a prosaic question: “How many are the years of your life?”

Judah’s Story, Our Stories, and the Stories of Refugees

Dec 17, 2015 By Julia Andelman | Commentary | Vayiggash

They grabbed me and led me to a van. I told them: ‘I’m an old man. I’m not a threat.’ But they didn’t listen. On our way to the prison, they kept stopping on the street and collecting more people. They blindfolded me when we arrived and they beat me very badly. Then they put me with seventy other people in a room smaller than this one. It was very cold because it was December and I was barefoot because I’d lost my slippers. 

Shabbat Hagadol

Dec 16, 2015

⁴ Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of yore and in the years of old.

Joseph’s Feast

Dec 11, 2015 By Michael R. Boino | Commentary | Miketz

In Joseph’s Feast, Joseph struggles with his family trauma as well as his desire for familial love. The title as well as some of the content of the poem alludes to Belshazzar’s feast as told in the Book of Daniel (Chapter Five).

Joseph, Hanukkah, and the Dilemmas of Assimilation

Dec 11, 2015 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?

Disabilities, Inclusion, and Jewish Education

Dec 9, 2015 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

How does the Jewish community help individuals with a range of disabilities participate meaningfully in Jewish education and Jewish life? A panel of experts discusses key innovations and challenges in the field as they apply to both formal and informal Jewish education, and explores which programs, services, and opportunities are still missing.

The Values of a Jewish Home

Dec 5, 2015 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayeshev

A few weeks ago, Etgar Keret, an accomplished author on the Israeli literary scene, made a pilgrimage from his home in Tel Aviv to JTS’s Schocken Institute in Jerusalem to address a group of rabbinical students from JTS and HUC. Among the many thoughtful and reflective insights he shared, he spoke of the need for Israeli society to reflect the best of Jewish values. 

Redemption in the Dark Pit

Dec 5, 2015 By Jason Gitlin | Commentary | Vayeshev

Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.

How to Be Righteous

Dec 3, 2015 By Adam Zagoria-Moffet | Short Video | Hanukkah

The purely righteous do not complain about darkness, but increase light. They don’t complain about evil, but increase justice. They don’t complain about heresy, but increase faith. They don’t complain about ignorance, but increase wisdom.

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, Arpilei Tohar (1914), p. 2.

The Story of We

Dec 3, 2015 By Stephanie Ruskay | Short Video | Hanukkah

Revolutionaries at Home

Dec 3, 2015 By Alisa Braun | Short Video | Hanukkah

No Religion Is an Island

Nov 24, 2015 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

A conversation between UTS President Professor Serene Jones and JTS Chancellor Professor Arnold Eisen, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Abraham Joshua Heschel’s revolutionary address at Union Theological Seminary.

Homecoming

Nov 24, 2015 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Commentary | Vayishlah

In Parashat Vayishlah, Jacob returns to the Land of Canaan after a long absence and finds trouble rather than the comforts of home. He prepares to meet his estranged and potentially violent brother.

Face to Face

Nov 24, 2015 By Anne Lapidus Lerner | Commentary | Vayishlah

The tortured relationship between the twin brothers Esau and Jacob has been a significant element in the two previous parshiyot—Toledot and Vayetze. It is resolved in this week’s parashah, Vayishlah. Although there is no peace treaty, the resolution is deeply desired by both brothers and reflected both in the undoing of the language that started the problem and in the brothers’ truly seeing and acknowledging each other.

The State of Israel: Messianism Without a Messiah?

Nov 23, 2015 By Benjamin R. Gampel | Public Event video

This presentation explores what the messianic idea has meant for Jews through the ages and in contemporary Israeli politics—and the dramatic implications of messianic thinking in shaping the future and fate of the Jewish state.

50 Years of Jewish-Catholic Dialogue

Nov 20, 2015 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

Mordechay Lewy, the Immediate Past Ambassador of the State of Israel to the Holy See, delivers a lecture titled, “50 Years of Jewish-Catholic Dialogue.”

Family

Nov 18, 2015 By Burton L. Visotzky | Commentary | Vayetzei

This week’s Torah reading, Vayetzei (Genesis 28:10-32:2), opens and closes with flights of angels accompanying our forefather Jacob (aka Israel, though, he won’t get named that until next week), as he flees from and returns to the Promised Land. When Jacob leaves, he is running in fear for his life. For our father Jacob has cheated his macho older brother Esau once too often, so much so that he has threatened to kill him. Of course, Esau isn’t that much older, for the two brothers are twins. But as any set of twins will tell you, the one who came first, even if by mere seconds—that one is the elder. We might assume, along with the Bible, that birth-order matters. But Genesis is all about the younger supplanting the older and we are on solid ground suggesting that this sibling rivalry stuff is at the very heart of this week’s Torah lesson.

“And Shall We Do It?”

Nov 15, 2015 By Louis Polisson | Commentary | Vayetzei

It is not in Heaven
And I did not know
I said: “Who shall go up for us to heaven?
I don’t want to, I don’t care
I don’t understand…”

Reimagining a Fixed Image

Nov 13, 2015 By Allison Kestenbaum | Commentary | Toledot

When I read Toledot, I can’t help but have in mind a painting called “Jacob and Esau” by Jose de Ribera. I studied this painting while taking an art history class at the Prado Museum in Madrid many years ago. It is so vivid in my imagination that not only can I recall most of the details, I also can remember the exact location of the painting in the museum. The painting is known for its lifelike depiction of fabrics and the sheep skin on Jacob’s arm used to trick his father.