Why a Temple?
Mar 21, 1998 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Pekudei | Vayak-hel
The final two readings this week, which close the book of Exodus, tell of the actual construction of the Tabernacle. In a leap year, with its additional month, we would have devoted one Shabbat to each parasha and read for the haftara a selection pertaining to Solomon’s construction of the First Temple. In fact, the two haftarot are sequential: I Kings 7:40-50 for Vayakhel and I Kings 7:51-8:21 for Pekuday. Thus the synagogue naturally associated the completion of Moses’s mobile sanctuary with the completion of Solomon’s permanent Temple in Jerusalem.
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JTS’s Eternal Light
Jun 11, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Beha'alotekha
Forty-five years ago my marriage to my wife Sally coincided with the weekly Torah portion of Beha’alotekha, “When you (Aaron) mount the lamps, let the seven lamps give light at the front of the lampstand” (Numbers 8:2).
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Our Rendezvous with God
Jun 11, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Naso
The completion of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, like the construction of the Temple by Solomon centuries later, restricts the locus of God’s presence to a single sacred space.
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Counting People
Jun 5, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Bemidbar
The book of Numbers opens on a triumphant note.
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The Sabbatical Year
May 19, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Behar
The DNA of Judaism is the number seven.
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Claiming Our Spiritual Freedom
May 14, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Emor
The laws of the Torah are rooted in the exodus from Egypt.
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God As a Tragic Character
Apr 2, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Shabbat Parah | Shemini
Ours is not the first generation to discover that we live in an imperfect world.
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The Power of the Mind Over Reality
Mar 25, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Tzav
Judaism is a choir of many voices.
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