An Interreligious Dialogue on Healing

Sep 11, 2011 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

You or someone you know is ill; how would you proceed? Many people turn to their religion in these situations. Many religions have similar practices and beliefs when it comes to healing, and therefore, this program will explore the views different religions have on healing.

Taking the Journey with Abraham

Nov 7, 2008 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Lekh Lekha

Five short verses after he (and we) first encounter that Land on which the Jewish future will turn ever after, a famine sends Abraham down to the place where he (and we) spend the remainder of chapter 12 of Genesis, a foreign land where he gets embroiled in a complex interaction with the Pharaoh that foreshadows a great deal of the text and history to come.

“And Shall We Do It?”

Nov 15, 2015 By Louis Polisson | Commentary | Vayetzei

It is not in Heaven
And I did not know
I said: “Who shall go up for us to heaven?
I don’t want to, I don’t care
I don’t understand…”

The God of Israel

Aug 8, 2009 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Eikev

Again and again in this week’s portion the Torah commands us, reminds us, pleads with us, to hear the words that it comes to teach…”If/because [eikev] you hear and obey these rules and observe them faithfully,” Moses promises Israel in the very first verse of the parashah, God will favor you, bless you, multiply you (Deut. 7:12–13). If/because [eikev] you do not hear and obey the voice of the Lord your God, Moses warns the people at the close of the following chapter, “you shall certainly perish like the nations the Lord will cause to perish before you” (8:20).

Sharing Our Individuality

Dec 15, 2014 By Sarit Horwitz | Short Video | Hanukkah

Our Covenant with God

Jun 4, 2010 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Shelah Lekha

When Moses confronts the gravest challenge to his and God’s authority since the golden calf, the negative report of the spies sent to scout the Land of Israel, he responds with a lawyerly argument for divine mercy that is taken directly from the one that had staved off the people’s annihilation by God the first time around. The argument takes the form of a question: What will the Egyptians say if God destroys His people?

On Judaism and Islam

Sep 9, 2010 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Rosh Hashanah

Jews have prepared for the High Holiday season of repentance and renewal in 2010 with Muslims very much on our minds. 

Conflicted Relationships

Nov 25, 2011 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Toledot

At the start of this week’s parashah, and again at its conclusion, we confront the complex, conflicted relationship that binds Isaac’s twin sons to one another and to their father. The middle section of the parashah, by contrast, is concerned with the no less complex and conflicted relationship that binds Isaac and his family to their neighbors.