If peace is the absence of conflict, then there are at least two paths to peace. In a conflict of winners and losers, violence and dominance is a path to peace. One “side” overcomes the other, and imposes terms. The winner enjoys peace, the loser...
By Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, JTA
• Published May 22, 2012
JERUSALEM — Unlike other Jewish holidays, the Torah does not specify a date for Shavuot; it is celebrated on the 50th day (seven weeks) after Passover. We moderns celebrate Shavuot on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan; in ancient times, when...
SHAVUOT FEATURE NEW YORK -- Observing my kids playing, I notice how the same toy, no matter how many times they play with it, can reveal the most remarkable things. My daughter, with the vocabulary befitting a 1 1/2-year-old, will bring her ball over...
I admit that I have a love affair with matzah. From the simplicity of matzah spread thick with whipped cream cheese, to the burnt edges of the hand-made shmura matzah. Yet, there is more to matzah than its mouth feel. Indeed matzah has personality,...
BY RABBI DALE SCHREIBER
• Published February 29, 2012
This week’s portion, Tetzaveh, begins with commandments to raise an eternal flame and to find people who are wise hearted to build a sanctuary where God’s presence would be visible. Tetzaveh, from the root word command, is paired with a special Sabbath...
BY RABBI JOSEF DAVIDSON
• Published February 1, 2012
Many of the most memorable experiences of my life, and I suspect of many others' lives, have music associated with them. Whenever I listen to those melodies, the experience associated with each of them is replayed in my mind as well. For example, many...
BY RABBI JOSEF DAVIDSON
• Published October 12, 2011
Five days after Yom Kippur the joyous festival of Sukkot begins. It is the one holy day period on which Jews are actually commanded to rejoice. The other major festivals (Pesach and Shavuot) are also joyous and celebrate important events in...
By Rabbi Roxanne J.S. Shapiro
• Published September 7, 2011
Several years ago, I had a sixth grade student who attended both the Milwaukee Jewish Day School and my congregation's religious school. She came to me with a complaint that she was learning the same things at each school. When I asked her to explain...
BY RABBI DALE SCHREIBER
• Published August 3, 2011
Beginning a new book of Torah is a bit like greeting an old friend. The Book of Deuteronomy always begins in the heat of the summer, at the end of a ritual three weeks of diminished joy, on the Sabbath just before Tisha B'Av. Interestingly, the rabbis...
This week's Torah Portion, Sh'lach L'cha, Numbers 13:1-15:41, is all about borders, boundaries and limits. The Sidrah starts with the story of the scouts, twelve in all, one leader from each tribe, dispatched by Moses at God's behest across the Jordan...
At Sinai, I imagine the Israelites might have felt a compelling need to look up as God was up there above and beyond the clouds. Given such a lofty beginning, it would be understandable to think that Torah was also up there- beyond our comprehension....
