Parashat Ha Shavua Commentaries

Theology has become a hot topic among Jewish publishers these days.  Recognizing a gap between new ways of expressing Jewish commitment and a cogent way of expressing that commitment in words, scholars and writers of every part of the Jewish spectrum are putting forth different metaphors to describe how God and the Jewish people relate. Read more...

Growing up, I used to anticipate with great excitement the annual showing of Cecil B. Read more...

Ask anyone in a Jewish audience to create a mental image of a “pious Jew” and chances are good that vision will be male, wear a head covering and a tallit. Chances are also good that he’ll be wearing tefillin, the leather boxes containing four biblical passages (including the Shema) that are worn on the forehead and are wrapped around the arm. Read more...

In this week's Torah portion, Va’Yehiy, we complete the reading of the book of Genesis, meeting Jacob on his death bed, surrounded by his children.  Having asked Joseph to take care of the details of his burial and ensure that he will be buried in Israel, Jacob summons his twelve sons, prepared to share final words with his children.  Clearly a man with things on his mind and desire to share them, Jacob calls to his children saying:  'Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the end of days. Read more...

If contemporary America were to pick a motto, it might well be “What have you done for me lately?”  Each of us pursues individual happiness as we understand it.  When the agenda of some outside organization intersects our own, we are willing to belong.  But our belonging is usually pretty fragile—we belong on our own terms, for our own interests.  If we’re unhappy with a rabbi’s sermon, we quit the synagogue, if we don’t have time to attend their meetings, we quit the organization. Read more...