Comfort Food

Jun 25, 2013 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Pinehas

When we go to help someone—in times of mourning, illness, or just a basic potluck pitch-in—do we give them what we need to give, or what they need of us? How are we to know, if we are not explicitly told, what will please, comfort, or help someone else the most? And the religious corollary to this line of thinking: do our answers change when it comes to bringing an offering to please or comfort not our friends, but God?

“They Said”/“They Said”

Jul 2, 2013 By Walter Herzberg | Commentary | Masei | Mattot

In this week’s parashah, we are told that the children of Reuben and Gad “had a very great multitude of cattle” (verse 1) and the land of Gilead on the eastern side of the Jordan was an excellent “place for cattle.” They, therefore, hoped that Moses would permit them to stay on the eastern side of the Jordan and not cross over to Canaan/Israel proper when the time would arrive to enter the Land.

Divine Compassion

Dec 27, 2013 By Julia Andelman | Commentary | Va'era

The biblical book that we began last week—Shemot—is known in English as Exodus, a name that highlights one of the key dramatic episodes of the book.

The Many Languages of Torah

Jan 3, 2014 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Commentary | Bo

Sometimes basic questions are the hardest to answer. For example, I know that one plus one equals two, but when asked to prove it logically, I may struggle a bit before I can express it.

What’s Jewish about Jewish Leadership?

Dec 16, 2013 By Marc Gary | Commentary | Shemot

A few years back, I was sitting in a class for prospective leaders of the Jewish community and yawning. Although the class was organized by a prestigious Jewish institution and gathered together an invitation-only group of accomplished men and women from business and the professions, I kept looking at my watch and planning my escape.

The Older Shall Serve the Younger

Dec 11, 2013 By JTS Alumni | Commentary | Vayehi

By Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky

The Viennese psychologist Alfred Adler theorized that birth order within a family was a decisive factor in shaping one’s personality. Firstborn children tend to be natural leaders, he theorized, because parents tend to shower them with attention, and younger children tend to look up to their big siblings for guidance. However, firstborn kids tend to struggle with a sense of “dethronement” when a younger one comes along, feeling that this new little interloper has knocked them off their pedestals of parental love.

What Did Joseph Mean to Say?

Dec 3, 2013 By Walter Herzberg | Commentary | Vayiggash

Joseph, viceroy of Egypt, who has not yet revealed himself to his brothers, threatens to retain his brother Benjamin as a slave (Gen. 44:17).

Miketz—Hanukkah—Thanksgiving

Nov 27, 2013 By Burton L. Visotzky | Commentary | Miketz | Hanukkah

Hanukkah is the original Thanksgiving. While it is true that our ancestors did not eat turkey (a North American bird), they certainly were cooking with oil.