91抖阴

Ruth鈥檚 Torah Matters Now

May 28, 2020 By Amy Kalmanofsky | Commentary | Shavuot

Like every Jewish holiday, Shavuot has seasonal and historical components. It celebrates the gifts of Torah and of the spring harvest. Both bounties manifest God鈥檚 glory, sustain Israel, and are captured masterfully by our liturgy. 

Counting the Omer, Counting our Blessings

Apr 23, 2020 By Matthew Berkowitz | Shavuot

Counting the Omer, Counting our Blessings

Apr 23, 2020 By Matthew Berkowitz | Shavuot

91抖阴 Seder Supplement for the COVID-19 Pandemic

Apr 6, 2020 By 91抖阴 | Collected Resources | Pesah

Selected thoughts on the Haggadah in light of the COVID-19 crisis.

Passover in the Time of Coronavirus

Apr 3, 2020 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol | Pesah

What a difference a year makes鈥攐r a week, or a day. Last year at this time, reflecting on a period of rising anti-Semitism in America and Europe, I wrote that 鈥渄iscussion at your seder table will be different from all Passovers past.鈥� This year, many of those discussions will happen virtually, and attendance at physical seder tables will likely be limited to close family or friends. Many people may be sitting at the seder table alone. The plague is upon us, striking every part of the world without regard to national border or religion. The holiday will not be the same, because we are not the same.

Matzah鈥檚 Majestic Meaning

Apr 8, 2020 By Judith Hauptman | Commentary | Pesah

I don鈥檛 know why we ask the first of the four seder questions鈥斺�淥n all other nights we eat both hametz and matzah but on this night only matzah.鈥� The Ha lahma anya paragraph that immediately precedes the questions already answers it. The opening words, 鈥渢his is the bread of affliction (lahma anya in the Aramaic) that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt,鈥� suggest that the Israelite slaves in Egypt, who presumably had no time to bake bread, ate matzah. And that is why we eat matzah on Passover. So why ask the first question?

Human Lives and the Natural World

Oct 18, 2019 By Shuly Rubin Schwartz | Commentary | Sukkot

For many of us who live in dense metropolitan areas, spending time in national parks gives us a unique opportunity to experience in more immediate fashion the majesty of our world. Vacationing in the Canadian Rockies this past summer鈥攈iking in the mountains, walking on glaciers, boating in deep blue lakes, cooling off in the spray of gorgeous waterfalls, identifying rare birds and seeing moose, elk, deer, and the occasional bear (thankfully from a distance)鈥擨 felt awed and fortunate to behold this.

The Value of Doubt

Oct 4, 2019 By Julia Andelman | Commentary | Shabbat Shuvah | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

The more one invests in trying to have a meaningful and genuine High Holiday prayer experience, the more one stands to lose if the words of the mahzor fall short of one鈥檚 aspirations. The mahzor is conceptually and theologically dense. If one takes the time to meditate upon the assertions of the prayers as they go by, one is sure to eventually encounter a text that rings false, problematic, or even alienating.