Resting Before Peace: Commentary on Parashat Vayyetze 5783
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, President & Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
At some early point of the 20th century, the American Jewish community summarized its own cautiousness by telling this classic joke:
What does a Jewish telegram say?
“Worry now. Details to follow.”
Anxiety has haunted us, the modern-day children of Israel, at least since […]
Our Patriarchy Without Men: Commentary on Parashat Toledot 5783
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, President & Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
The Hebrew Bible features the stories of at least six women who could not get pregnant and, only due to divine intervention, finally gave birth—Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Hannah, the woman who eventually gave birth to Samson, and a certain Shunammite woman whose child would not only […]
Seeing Angels in Genesis: Commentary on Parashat Chayyey Sarah 5783
By Rabbi Dr. Rivkah Glick, Hebrew Seminary alum, ordained 2019; Educator, Orot
These past few years, I have immersed myself in the weekly Torah portion, trying to “occupy Torah,” live within the Torah, as I look at it with fresh eyes, “to see” (lir’ot, לִרְאוֹת) what presents itself to me, something new, different, or something old […]
God is an Open Door: Commentary on Vayyera 5783
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, President and Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
Judaism sanctifies life’s liminal moments—those times when we stand on the border of two realities. At a baby naming, an already-Jewish child becomes contextualized as more than a Jewish individual: a member of a covenantal community. Though we know that a 13-year old is a minor […]
How To Be a Blessing (On Election Day): Commentary on Parashat Lekh Lekha 5783
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, President & Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
I am lucky that, when I was young, I learned how to recite Hebrew blessings. As I grew, I was grateful when I learned how to acknowledge when I felt blessed—when I was granted good fortune and kindness by God and […]
Virtual Town Hall Recap (with video commentary on Parashat No’ach 5783)
by Rabbi Jonah Rank, President & Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
JustOneWord: A Commentary on Parashat Bereshit 5783
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, President and Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
After the French theologian Antoine Arnauld expressed his support for the ideas of the Dutch Bishop Cornelius Jansen—who endorsed a handful of thoughts that Pope Innocent X decried as heresy in 1653—Arnauld was quickly removed from the société de la Sorbonne (“the society of the Sorbonne”).[1] […]
Why We Don’t Burn Nice Things: Commentary on Simchat Torah 5783
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, President & Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
Had I been born one millennium earlier, I never would have associated Simchat Torah with small flags. But for hundreds of years, this joyous holiday has capped the end of Sukkot as millions of young Jews have taken hold of not a heavy torah […]
Natural, Unnatural, and Supernatural: Commentary on Sukkot 5783
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, President and Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
Some 700 years ago, a young rabbi named Ya’akov HaLevi Moelin visited his father the morning after Yom Kippur and was shocked to discover him at a construction site in the Rhineland. Ya’akov’s father, Rabbi Mosheh Moelin, was assembling his sukkah with little […]
Going Nowhere, With Love: Commentary on Parashat Vayyelekh 5783
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, President and Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
One of my favorite contemporary Hebrew expressions to hear on the phone is “אֲנִי כְּבָר בָּא” (ani k’var ba), which means literally “I am already coming.” I have heard it used by Israelis who are in a car and actually en route to their next meetup, […]