91抖阴

We Were All Converts at Sinai

May 22, 2026 By David C. Kraemer | Commentary | Shavuot

One of the few age-old rituals that distinguishes the holiday of Shavuot is the public reading of the Book of Ruth. The reason for this association may be no more than that the narrative of Ruth describes its events as taking place 鈥渁t the beginning of the barley harvest鈥� (1:22), that is to say, at the time of Shavuot. But there is another association, deeper and more fundamental, that ties Ruth to Shavuot in instructive and inspiring ways.

The Talented Dr. Finkelstein: His Initiatives, Allies and Critics

May 18, 2026 By Jack Wertheimer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Within the first decade of his 91抖阴 presidency, Rabbi Louis Finkelstein energetically launched a broad range of new initiatives. 鈥疕is efforts garnered widespread attention and even an adulatory cover story in Time magazine. They also prompted sharp public challenges from some of his closest colleagues.

How Do You Measure a Year?

May 15, 2026 By Rabbi Abigail Treu | Commentary | Bemidbar

鈥淔ive hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes. How do you measure, measure a year?鈥�

The question asked in the chorus of 鈥淪easons of Love,鈥� made ever more poignant by the tragic death of its composer-lyricist, Jonathan D. Larson, just months before Rent opened on Broadway in 1996, has been rattling lately in my mind. After all, we are doing an awful lot of counting this week: we count the final days of the Omer, and, as our parashah begins, take the census of the Israelite community. What does all of this counting have to do with the ways in which we measure what really matters?

Youth in the Making of American Jewish History

May 11, 2026 By Sandra Fox

In the mid-twentieth century, the American Jewish communityemergedas what scholars have broadly labeled 鈥渃hild-centered,鈥� with rabbis, educators, and communal leaders focusing their concerns over the future of Judaism on children, teens, and young adults. In narratives of American Jewish history, however, the experiences of the young are typically overlooked, the focus placed instead on how their elders hoped to shape their identities and stem the tides of assimilation.

Remember the Land

May 8, 2026 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Behar | Behukkotai

Spring is my favorite season because it draws me outdoors, enticing me to leave the city and enjoy the rivers, fields, and mountains of this glorious earth. Even near the city I often find myself in nature, biking along the Hudson and up the Palisades past waterfalls and nesting eagles. Returning to the land reminds me of the many blessings of our world, filling me with gratitude and awe. It also causes foreboding since the signs of stress on the natural systems that make our lives possible are everywhere evident. While this era of anthropogenic climate change may be new, the concern that human conduct could lead to ruin and exile from the earth is found already in our Torah portion.