Taking Care of Ourselves and the Stranger

Feb 24, 2017 By David Rosenn | Commentary | Mishpatim

This week’s Torah reading contains instructions for taking care of one’s own: “If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, do not act toward them like a creditor; exact no interest from them” (Exod. 22:25).

Deuteronomy is even clearer, stating, “You shall not charge interest on loans to your countrymen, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. But you may charge interest to a foreigner…” (23:20-21).

Answering the Call to Holiness Together

May 8, 2016 By Arnold M. Eisen | Public Event video

A guest sermon at the Riverside Church of New York.

Religion and Diplomacy

May 9, 2016 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

Religion is personal, yet it looms large in international diplomacy, much as it factors into interpersonal relations. This year’s lecture is a high level conversation between two veteran diplomats, Archbishop Bernardito Auza and Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, whose religions are essential to who they are and how they conduct their diplomatic work.

Nostra Aetate Dialogue

Oct 4, 2012 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

The Person You Are Now

Oct 23, 2010 By Andrew Shugerman | Commentary | Text Study | Vayera

“Innocent until proven guilty” approximates God’s judgment of Ishmael in the midrash above.

A Dialogue of Life: Toward the Encounter of Jews and Christians

Mar 26, 2015 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

This event was cosponsored by The Library and the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue of The Jewish Theological Seminary.

Gospel of Freedom

Jan 29, 2014 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

Dr. Jonathan Rieder delves deeper than anyone before into Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” illuminating both its timeless message and crucial position in the history of civil rights.

To Save a Life

May 6, 1995 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Kedoshim

Passover this year was not a festival of freedom for Alisa Flatow of West Orange, New Jersey. The Brandeis junior was rendered brain dead by a piece of shrapnel on April 9, when a Palestinian suicide bomber drove his van of explosives into a busload of Israelis near Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip. But before her father Stephen allowed his daughter to be taken off the respirator in Beersheva Hospital, he snatched the last measure of life from her limp body: her undamaged organs and corneas were removed “as a lasting contribution to the people of Israel.”