Richard Poussette-Dart, 1967.

Creations

 

Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the year, marks the creation of the world. Or does it? The Torah refers to Rosh Hashanah, although not by that name, as the first day of "the seventh month" (Leviticus 23:24)—the seventh, that is, if you're counting from Nisan, the month of Passover. That month is designated as the beginning of the year in the first act of the Exodus: "This month will mark for you the first of the months; it will be, for you, the first month of the year" (Exodus 12:2). Like revolutionaries everywhere, the Israelites wanted a new calendar. 

The Birthday of the World  Ernst Simon,  Commentary.  Why, of all the "new years" in the Jewish calendar, the one commemorated by Rosh Hashanah claims central place. A classic 1955 essay by a religious humanist philosopher (1899-1988).  SAVE

At the Bar of Justice  Eliezer Segal,  Jewish Star.  In envisioning the great annual "day of judgment," the ancient rabbis and poets invoked legal and military images drawn from Greek and Roman life.  SAVE

Telling Time  Alan Corre, Michael J. Radwin,  Hebcal.com.  When was Rosh Hashanah in 1310? When will it fall in 2310? Free, one-stop shopping for all your calendrical needs.   SAVE

Tashlich, Kate Chester

Repentance = Freedom?

 

In the thick of the month of Ellul, nearing Rosh Hashanah, penitence is or should be in the air. Also recently marked was the 75th yahrzeit of the great mystic, jurist, and theologian Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935).  As it turns out, Kook's  teachings on the meaning of repentance are among his most striking, stamped with his distinctive mix of piety and audacity. In his eyes, teshuvah, generally translated as "repentance" but literally and more powerfully "return," signifies not only a deepened and renewed commitment to religion and commandments but, paradoxically, nothing less than a new birth of freedom.

A Healthy Soul in a Healthy Body  Abraham Isaac Kook,  Emet.  Two passages from Orot Hateshuvah, translated by Alter Metzger, clarify the physical—and the paradoxical—nature of repentance.  SAVE

Rav Kook, in His Time and Ours  Torah MiTzion.  A series of lectures by rabbis and teachers on the 75th anniversary of Kook's death. (Video.)  SAVE

When the Rav Met the Rav  Jeffrey Saks,  Tradition.  In 1935, two philosophers of repentance, the young Soloveitchik and the elderly and ailing Kook, met in the land of Israel.

   SAVE

Tisha b’Av, Western Wall.

Tisha b'Av Now

 

Tomorrow is Tisha b'Av, the traditional day of fasting and lamentation for the destruction of the First and Second Temples and the sorrows of Jewish history.  But ours is a moment of unprecedented Jewish sovereignty and unparalleled Jewish prosperity. And so, many are asking, why bother?

Should We Continue to Fast on Tisha b'Av?  David Golinkin,  Machon Schechter.  A learned exposition of the question and its history. The short answer is yes.  SAVE

Tisha b'Av According to the Rav  Haskel Lookstein,  Koren Mesorat HaRav Kinot.  Joseph B. Soloveitchik's reaffirmation of Tisha b'Av in our time. (PDF)  SAVE

Why Bother  Adina Lewittes, Rachel Brodie,  Jewish Week.  In the judgment of two outreach workers, Tisha b'Av's assaults on our comfort must be made meaningful in terms of each individual's personal narrative.  SAVE

Jacopo Tintoretto, 1577

Why Was Moses Punished?

 

It comes in the Torah portion read this Saturday (Hukat, Numbers 19:1 - 22:1), and it is unquestionably the lowest point in Moses' career. After dragging the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, giving them the Ten Commandments, overthrowing the Golden Calf, and braving their never-ending backsliding, complaints, and pleas to return to Egypt, Moses is asked by God to perform one more miracle in response to the Israelites' evidently unquenchable thirst. "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Take the rod, and gather the assembly together . . . and speak to the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth its water.'"

Insight & Analysis

Harsh Judgment, Soft Judgment  Naomi Grunhaus.  YU Torah.  On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, we are judged as individuals; on the second day, as part of a group.  SAVE

Defiance  ToldotYisrael.  YouTube.  Six men who flouted a 1930 British law and blew the shofar at the Western Wall tell their story. (Video).  SAVE

Symbolic Foods  Phyllis Glazer.  Los Angeles Times.  On Rosh Hashanah, as on other Jewish holidays, cuisine becomes a system of meaning.  SAVE

Unleavened Politics  Fred MacDowell.  On the Main Line.  In a declassified 1976 document, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and the president of the ultra-Orthodox Agudath Israel discuss the shipment of matzah into the Soviet Union.  SAVE

Notes on Encampment  Christopher Hawthorne.  Los Angeles Times.  "Sukkah City," an architectural competition to re-imagine the traditional tabernacle, has announced its twelve finalists.  SAVE

Better Fasting through Chemistry  Judy Siegel-Itzkovich.  Jerusalem Post.  Jerusalem researchers are testing a drug that may help Jews and Muslims on fast days.  SAVE

On the Ninth of Av  Frank Talmage.  Commentary (October 1981).  In Catalonia, the scene of centuries of Jewish hopes and horrors, a student of history is beset by a torrent of emotions. (PDF).  SAVE

The Weekly Portion

Shoftim: Judgment Call

 

Deuteronomy 16: 18 – 21: 9

By David Hazony

"Judges and officers shall you make for yourself in all your gates," we are told at the opening of this week's reading, "and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment." The declaration seems obvious at first blush. Who wouldn't want righteous judges? Yet the Bible—more so, perhaps, than any other text of the ancient world—is singularly attentive to this issue of judges, making it into one of the central demands of the Torah.

Continue Reading "Judgment Call"  David Hazony,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  SAVE

SAVE "Shoftim: Judgment Call"

The Weekly Portion

Sh'mot

 

Exodus 1:1 – 6:1

Inner Illumination  Ismar Schorsch,  Jewish Theological Seminary.  At the burning bush, the paradigmatic human quest for God meets a divine response.  SAVE

Why Tziporah?  Sharon Rimon,  Virtual Beit Midrash.  In the process of redemption women play a central role, and none more so than Moses' wife Tziporah, who saves her husband's life—and his mission.  SAVE

Moses Was Right to be Afraid  Jonathan Sacks,  Covenant and Conversation.  By looking away from God's presence, Moses preserved his capacity for human empathy as well as his faith in divine justice.  SAVE

SAVE "Sh'mot"

The Weekly Portion

Mikeitz

 

Genesis 41:1 - 44:17

None So Wise and Knowing  Amnon Bazak,  Virtual Beit Midrash.  Pharaoh's are the third and most difficult set of dreams in Joseph's career; in interpreting them, he builds on lessons gleaned from the first two.  SAVE

A Leap out of the Familiar  Mychal Springer,  Jewish Theological Seminary.  Judah, Joseph, and the theology of forgiveness.  SAVE

The Measure of All Things  Shlomo Riskin,  Ohr Torah Stone.  On the connection between Hanukkah and the biblical saga of Joseph's struggles and triumph.  SAVE

SAVE "Mikeitz"

The Weekly Portion

Vayeshev

 

Genesis 37:1 - 40:23

Enough Blame to Go Around  Ismar Schorsch,  Jewish Theological Seminary.  Despite the best efforts of his family to thwart them, Joseph’s youthful dreams will not be denied. This much is known from the start, but the drama, with its startling twists of character and fortune, is all in the telling.  SAVE

The Master of Dreams  Hillel J. Chiel,  Tradition.  From this week’s reading until the end of Genesis, the dominating theme is: who among the sons of Jacob shall lead the emerging nation of Israel? Taken together with Joseph’s view of his brothers after they sold him into slavery, his dreams are a key to interpreting the unfolding narrative.  SAVE

SAVE "Vayeshev"

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