A Guide for the Perplexed: A Novel
Nov 11, 2013 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio
Novelist Dara Horn, the winner of two National Jewish Book Awards, on her new book, A Guide For The Perplexed: A Novel.
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Hatemail: Anti-Semitism on Picture Postcards A Discussion with Author Salo Aizenberg
Nov 7, 2013 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio
Salo Aizenberg, one of the leading collectors of Judaic picture postcards, is also the author of Postcards from the Holy Land: A Pictorial History of the Ottoman Era, 1880-1918. He is a managing director of the RLJ Credit Opportunity Fund, and coordinates its business development activities. He earned his BS in Management Information Systems at the State University of New York at Binghamton and his MBA at Columbia Business School.
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What Is Life Worth? Tailoring the Law to Meet the Challenges of Unique Catastrophes
Nov 6, 2013
9/11. The BP oil spill. The Boston Marathon bombing. Major tragedies captivate the public and often galvanize officials into using unconventional strategies to help those most affected.
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The Anomaly of the Night: Fear, Power, Divine Presence (Shekhinah), Part 2
Nov 6, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
To the human heart and soul, night and morning are profoundly different, even though an astronomer would see them as equivalent observed consequences of the orbit of the earth around the sun. The first blessing of the evening service (Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat, 28) praises God for establishing the natural cycles: “You roll away light as darkness sets in, and darkness as the light dawns.” The morning service offers a tight structure of two blessings before, and one after, the Shema’ on the themes of Creation, Revelation, and Redemption (to be explored here in a future essay). Although the texts are a little different in the morning and the evening, the themes are identical.
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Being in the Land
Nov 6, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayetzei
Parashat Vayetzei opens with Jacob’s flight from the Land of Israel.
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Rachel Leans In
Nov 5, 2013 By Michal Raucher | Commentary | Vayetzei
Recent conversations in popular feminism revolve around trying to capture what it means to “have it all,” and, if that’s even possible, how to achieve it.
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Chancellor Eisen Discusses the Legacy of Rabbi David Hartman
Nov 4, 2013 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video
A discussion from “A Day of Study Celebrating the Impact of Rabbi Professor David Hartman,” held in New York City on May 5, 2013, featuring David Hartman’s onetime student and friend, Arnold Eisen, Chancellor, Jewish Theological Seminary, in conversation with Donniel Hartman (President, Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem). The program was recorded by Shalom TV.
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In Search of God
Oct 29, 2013 By Julia Andelman | Commentary | Toledot
Through the unexpected and serendipitous Shabbat meal invitations that often seem to come about when one is studying in Jerusalem, I found myself many years ago sitting at the festive Shabbat table of an ultra-Orthodox family one autumn Friday night.
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Night: Fear, Power, Divine Presence (Shekhinah)
Oct 29, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Transitions are times of vulnerability, anxiety, even fear. The mezuzah guides us through the transition between our home and the outside world. The words of the challenging, non-Israelite Prophet Balaam welcome us into the synagogue: “Mah Tovu (How beautiful are your tents O Jacob).” I wrote several reflections on the prayer texts that support us from sleep to wakefulness, giving thanks for soul and body restored to strength and vitality for another day.
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The Challenge of Tomorrow’s Blessing
Oct 29, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Toledot
Parashat Toledot opens in life and closes with the threat of death.
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Life: Quantity Vs. Quality
Oct 23, 2013 By Eliezer B. Diamond z”l | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah
“And the span of Sarah’s life was 127 years—the years of Sarah’s life” (Gen. 23:1; my translation). Whenever I read this verse, I feel a deep sadness that is only intensified by the story that follows. Let me explain.
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Mizmor LeDavid (Psalm 23)—Time, Text, Melody
Oct 23, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Psalm 23 is beloved in much of the English-speaking world for affirming a certainty of the divine presence—even in times of dread and adversity—in the most hauntingly beautiful language. The paean to the Psalm by 19th-century American pastor Henry Ward Beecher is widely cited.“The twenty third psalm is the nightingale of the Psalms. It is small, of a homely feather, singing shyly out of obscurity; but oh! it has filled the air of the whole world with melodious joy, greater than the heart can conceive” (Life Thoughts).
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Ahuzah: Settling Down
Oct 23, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah
At the opening of this week’s parashah, Abraham is occupied with arrangements for the burial of his beloved wife, Sarah.
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Cantillation for Torah
Oct 22, 2013 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Prayer Recordings
Recordings by Cantor Sarah Levine (CS ’17).
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A Hand to Hold
Oct 16, 2013 By Joel Alter | Commentary | Vayera
Her beautiful 16-year-old Ishmael lying whimpering nearby from mortal thirst and her own death close at hand, Hagar—in Genesis 21:15–18—is about as pitiable as one might imagine.
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Prayer: Invitation and Outcry
Oct 16, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM), with many organizations and agencies working together to spread awareness and the understanding that this scourge is endemic in modern society—and that no religion and no sector of society is exempt. My friend and colleague Rabbi Lisa Gelber, associate dean of The Rabbinical School of The Jewish Theological Seminary, was invited by FaithTrust Institute to write the “Universal Prayer” for the call of unity that opened DVAM, and the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (which convened the call) then created artwork to frame the prayer on a flyer. The prayer has found wide acceptance and recognition.
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In Every Moment, the Choice Is Ours
Oct 16, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayera
Sight and vision play an important role in the two opening narratives of Parashat Vayera.
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What’s in a Name?
Oct 9, 2013 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Lekh Lekha
What’s in a name? Quite a lot, but you need to know the story.
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Words of Prayer: New and Old
Oct 9, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
“What Page Are We on in the Prayer Book Blues” is a lighthearted song made famous by a pair of Orthodox artists in the 1980s called the Megama Duo (start at 3 minutes and 22 seconds in the linked video). The song would never have become as (in)famous as it was if the experience of “not being able to find the place” was unfamiliar. But, on the contrary, we have all been there, and it’s good to laugh at, and with, ourselves. When we do find the place in our prayer books, we see lines and paragraphs and pages of text, and it is often hard to find ourselves in the words.
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God As an Ally
Oct 9, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Lekh Lekha
A journey of four thousand years begins with God’s command to Abraham.
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