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Beyond the Four Questions: Creating Fun and Meaningful Seders for Children
Mar 19, 2013 By Deborah Miller | Video Lecture | Pesah
Ever wonder how to make the seder fun and meaningful for youth and children? Join Dr. Deborah Miller as she explores the rich educational structure of the seder while giving practical tips and advice on how to keep children ages 0 to 15 engaged in this powerful ritual.
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Approaching Pesah, Part 1: “Turning the Heart”
Mar 13, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Pesah
Two seemingly disconnected texts offer an insight into the experience of Pesah. On Shabbat Hagadol (the Shabbat before Pesah, this year on March 23), the haftarah from Malachi ends with the powerful words, “before the coming of the great and awesome day of God I will send you the prophet Elijah; he will turn the hearts of parents to [their] children, and the hearts of children to parents” (Mal. 3:23).
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Animal Sacrifice on an iPad: Finding Meaning in Va-yikra
Mar 13, 2013 By Charlie Schwartz | Commentary | Vayikra
I would like to offer three of the many approaches to Va-yikra that might help infuse our reading of the book with meaning beyond flying goats and calves.
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Bridging the Particular and the Universal
Mar 13, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayikra
With the opening of the book of Leviticus and its keen focus on sacrifices this coming Shabbat, many laypeople and clergy alike begin an exegetical struggle for connection and relevance.
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“In God’s Hand I Place My Soul” (Part 2)
Mar 6, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Last week we took a brief look at the balance between the majestic theological description of God with which Adon Olam opens, and the more intimate, even tender recounting of the poet’s relationship with God in the final stanzas. These final verses begin with two short words that articulate a quite extraordinary claim: “Vehu Eli” (For He is my God).
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Meaning in Métier
Mar 6, 2013 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Pekudei | Vayak-hel
The midrash suggests that the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) was given not because God needed such a thing, but to show the world—Israelites included—that the Israelites had been forgiven for the sin of the Golden Calf. It is curious, though, that such a gesture would be given as a do-it-yourself assignment.
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Of Leadership and Investment: A People Engage
Mar 6, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Pekudei | Vayak-hel
Parashat Vayak-hel-Pekudei continues the building of the Tabernacle—detailing the materials, craftsmanship, appurtenances, and its completion.
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Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders
Mar 5, 2013 By Joy Ladin | Public Event audio
Dr. Joy Ladin, David and Ruth Gottesman Professor of English, Stern College for Women – Yeshiva University, discusses her work Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders.
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Pesah: A Liberating Experience for Women
Mar 4, 2013 By Judith Hauptman | Commentary | Pesah
There is no festival more home- and family-oriented than Pesah. Sukkot may run a close second, but the seder places Pesah way ahead. Although celebrating at home with a lavish family meal should make this holiday a pleasure to anticipate, for many women this is not so. The painstaking conversion of the kitchen from leaven-filled to leaven-free status has turned the Festival of Freedom into an intense period of domestic labor rather than a celebration of personal and national liberation. That was not the intention of the halakhah.
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“In God’s Hand I Place My Soul” (Part 1)
Feb 27, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
There are moments when our prayers and spiritual poetry (piyyutim) make profound declarations about life and death, about humanity and God. Often these moments are recognized as awesome and important, and there is a sense within the synagogue community of this significance; for example, in asserting the unity of God (the Shema’), God’s holiness (the kedushah), and the role of destiny (“Unetaneh tokef” on Rosh Hashanah).
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The Art of Torah
Feb 27, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Ki Tissa
Too often, the arts are underappreciated in the Jewish community.
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When God Said “No” to Moses
Feb 26, 2013 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Ki Tissa
It must have been a great comfort to Moses—and not only a disappointment—that God turned down his request to see God’s glory. The wind was presence enough, on top of the mountain, much of the time—the wind, and the voice in the wind. Every visit of divine speech exhausted him now. Even the words that did not demand that he do battle, climb higher, challenge Pharaoh, rebuke the Israelites yet again, or simply—on some days the hardest—endure.
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Justice, Tzedek, Sadaqah: Pursuing Social Justice in Multi-faith Communities
Feb 21, 2013 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video
This multi-faith panel of “elders” discusses how multi-faith communities have influenced social justice over the past two decades, what are the current issues being addressed, and what is still to be accomplished. They offer insight into how young activists can play a pivotal role in accomplishing some of these key objectives and what it will mean for the future of this country and our place in a global society.
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Serve God With Joy
Feb 20, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
I recall reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer while in elementary school, and being stumped by a description of the powerful singing in church of “Old Hundred.” What might this “Old Hundred” be, and why was it being sung in church with such fervor? Eventually, I found out that this was Psalm 100, and was sung by the community as it learned that Tom Sawyer was alive, and had mischievously staged his own disappearance.
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Parts of a Whole
Feb 20, 2013 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Tetzavveh | Purim
A strange fact about being human: we never see any object in its entirety. We perceive in three dimensions, but see only in two so that our seeing is always at the mercy of our believing.
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Clothing Ourselves in Sanctity
Feb 20, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Tetzavveh | Purim
Clothing offers keen insight in two complementary directions. First, the garments one wears reveals one’s personality.
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How We Can Build the Synagogue of the Future
Feb 13, 2013 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Terumah
If you care deeply about the present and future state of the synagogue, as I do, it’s difficult to resist the temptation to draw lessons from the remarkable vision of communal worship set forth in this week’s Torah portion. I do not intend to resist. Three aspects of the divine plan for the Tabernacle strike me as particularly relevant to our contemporary situation.
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“Fill Our Eyes with Light . . . Cause Our Heart to Cling” (Part 2)
Feb 13, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Last week we looked at the phrase “ha’er eyenynu” (Fill our eyes with the light of Your Torah), and now let us look more closely at the continuation of the same sentence: “vedabek libeinu bemitzvotekha” (and make our hearts cleave to Your mitzvot) [Siddur Sim Shalom Daily, 32].
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God Helps Those Who Help Themselves
Feb 12, 2013 By Raymond Scheindlin | Commentary | Purim
How is it possible to tell a story of redemption without even once mentioning the name of God?
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Little Purim
Feb 12, 2013 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Podcast or Radio Program | Purim
A 1951 episode of “The Eternal Light” radio program about a boy and his violin on Purim.
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