By Rabbi Dr. Allan Kensky, Professor of Rabbinic Literature at Hebrew Seminary
The portion Lekh Lekha opens with an abrupt call from God to Abram, “Lekh Lekha—go forth.” Seemingly out of nowhere God calls on Abram to leave his home and family and set out for a new land. While we were introduced to Abram […]
By Rabbah Rona Matlow, Professor of Jewish Diversity Studies at Hebrew Seminary
I served in the US Navy for 22 years. During that time, I deployed on two submarines, two nuclear powered cruisers, an anti-submarine frigate, and a destroyer tender (repair ship). I travelled most of the world’s oceans and had the “pleasure” of experiencing quite […]
The New Energy When God Started Creating: Commentary on Parashat Bereshit 5784
By Rabbah Rona Matlow, Professor of Jewish Diversity Studies at Hebrew Seminary
In the beginning of the Torah, a small dense mass of words await a universe of expounding. For decades, English-speaking Jews would read Genesis 1:1–2 from Joseph H. Hertz’s 1937 The Pentateuch and […]
Could Nature Defend Miriam? Commentary on Parashat Beha’alotekha 5783
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, President and Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
After publishing his 1981 bestselling book When Bad Things Happen To Good People, Rabbi Dr. Harold Kushner, of blessed memory, privately counseled grieving parents who, like he, had suffered the loss of a beloved child. Rabbi Kushner believed in a God whose interventions in the world […]
Samson and Gallant: Commentary on Parashat Naso 5783
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, President and Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
Among my fondest memories of Highlights for Children remains the Goofus and Gallant comic strip, illustrating what is wrong to do (what Goofus does) and. what is right to do (what Gallant does).
Image of excerpt from […]
All the Letters in the Book of Numbers: Commentary on Parashat Bemidbar 5783
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, President and Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
On the slow news morning of Tuesday, February 10, 1885—when the same front page also reported (as an entire story), “Wheat eighteen inches high is to be seen in California”—the Boston Journal shared a new fad in American education:
A favorite […]
Proclaim D’ror: Commentary on Parashiyyot Behar-Bechukkotai 5783
By Rabbi Dr. Laurence Edwards, Professor Emeritus of Bible, Jewish Thought, and Jewish History; Hebrew Seminary
I was eight years old when Cecil B. DeMille’s film The Ten Commandments was made. Though my father was not interested in seeing the film (“I read the book,” he said), I loved it. I was moved by Elmer Bernstein’s score, and by […]
The Bread People From Egypt: Commentary on Parashat Emor 5783
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, President & Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
I love to turn off my phone just as Shabbat approaches, and letting my computer enter “sleep mode” on the day of rest gives me calm. As I distance myself from those electric blue lights every Friday night, the natural reddish-yellowish light of the candles […]
Scapegoats and Scapecoins: Commentary on Parashiyyot Acharey Mot-Kedoshim
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, President and Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
The Titanic sank because of the Jews, argued an antisemite, riling up a mob at the bar. Fuming with anger, a Jew in the tavern put down a glass to raise a fist in the air and retorted, “Iceberg! Not Goldberg!”
So goes an old joke that must […]
Fitting In Judaism: Commentary on Parashiyyot Tazri’a-Metzora 5783
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, President and Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
Sensitive content notice: This week’s commentary discusses miscarriage.
New York City was a happening place then—as it continues to be—and, when I lived there, the city never lacked exceptional guest lecturers at the schools I either passed on the street or attended as a student. My rabbinical school […]