The Song at the Sea

Jan 20, 2015 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Commentary | Beshallah

The centerpiece of Parashat Beshallah is the Song at the Sea. The song gives this Shabbat on which it is read the name Shabbat Shirah, the Sabbath of Song. It is interesting to note that this is the first recorded instance in the Torah where praise of God is specifically sung rather than spoken. Dr. Joseph H. Hertz, the first graduate of JTS and the chief rabbi of the British Empire, wrote in his Torah commentary on Parashat Beshallah, “Whenever Israel has faith in God and in the Divine Mission of Moses, Israel sings” (The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, p. 270).

The Good Ol’ Days

Jun 5, 2015 By Danielle Upbin | Commentary | Beha'alotekha

When the going gets tough, who doesn’t pine for the “good ol’ days”? Even when those past realities had challenges of their own, we tend not to remember them that way. It is human nature to favor selective memory. Consider our ancestors in this week’s parashah, crying for the fleshpots they enjoyed in Egypt, the cucumbers, garlic, and leeks (Num. 11:5). Did they forget about the slaughter of their firstborn, the harsh labor, the separation of families? In a moment of hunger and thirst for something they didn’t have, they forgot that they had actually been slaves in Egypt.

Nediv Lev

Mar 13, 2015 By Michael R. Boino | Commentary | Pekudei | Vayak-hel

We often think of love as something comfortable, something comforting. The truth is, it can be the exact opposite. True, unbounded love from another source can cause us to confront parts of ourselves with which we are uncomfortable: our vulnerability, our self image, our passive role as the recipient of care rather than as a caregiver.

The Revelation in Sci-Fi

May 22, 2015 By Ryan Dulkin | Commentary | Shavuot

As the sun rises over a craggy, barren landscape, the first rays of light penetrate the cavernous sleeping quarters of a family of primates. Off in the distance arise the sounds of an other worldly choir, an inchoate chorus. Agitated, the apes approach the entrance of their cave, situated on the side of a desert mountain, and find a mysterious object—a thin, pitch-black, rectangular monolith—standing erect, singing to them. 

Al Hanissim

Dec 10, 2014 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Prayer Recordings | Hanukkah

In preparation for Hanukkah, we are excited to share a recording of Al Hanissim, composed by Mike Boxer of the Jewish a cappella group Six13 and performed by the Chorus of the H. L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music.

Purim Heroines

Mar 18, 2016 By Stefanie B. Siegmund | Commentary | Purim

I did not wear the crown and satiny dress, or stand in line for the beauty pageant. Queen Esther was not a role model I—or many other children—could choose. Later, in the academy, I understood that Esther’s subterfuge and seduction were the strategies of the weak, the politics of the minority. 

Artisan and Architect

Mar 4, 2016 By Barbara Mann | Commentary | Vayak-hel

Ben Uri looked at the work of his hands and was astonished at how the ark stood firm while he himself was like an empty vessel. His soul was sad and he broke out in tears.

—S. Y. Agnon, Agunot

Bronze Bull, Golden Calf

Feb 26, 2016 By Tim Daniel Bernard | Commentary | Ki Tissa

The metal bovine with a peculiar magnetism that is known as the Golden Calf (Exod. 32) brings to mind Arturo Di Modica’s Charging Bull (1989). A potent Financial District icon, it exerts a remarkable pull on passersby (on its webcam you can see the crowd so often around the statue). According to the artist’s website, it was designed as a “symbol of virility and courage” and “the perfect antidote to the Wall Street crash of 1986,” but it was also created without the invitation of the Wall Street community and was promptly removed from its original location in front of the New York Stock Exchange.