Special Parshiyot Archives | Page 5 of 8 | Academy for Jewish Religion

19 12, 2011

Hanukkah

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2011-12-19T11:14:49-05:00December 19, 2011|

Hanukkah: In Praise Of The Righteous Gentile

By Irwin Huberman

Often at this time of the year, it feels as if the entire world is enveloped in darkness. Daylight is at a premium. Cold air chills our bones. And especially during these times of economic challenge, there is no shortage of cynicism in the world. Many Americans have lost faith in their leaders and institutions. True heroes are so hard to come by.

Indeed, where can true hope and light be found?

But as the story of Hanukkah teaches us, sometimes in life our greatest sources of light can come from everyday people performing remarkable miracles with extraordinary grace.

The second blessing over the Hanukkah candles not only praises God for performing miracles during times of the Maccabees, but also thanks God for continuing these remarkable feats to this day.

The story of Mary Katz Erlich and her rescuers Egle and Aurimas Ruzgys is Read More >

12 10, 2011

Sukkot

By ahsilver|2011-10-12T12:57:32-04:00October 12, 2011|

By Rabbi Margaret Frisch-Klein

Sitting in a private bathroom stall on Rosh Hashanah at the synagogue, I notice a sign for a hotline for domestic abuse. At first I am saddened that we need such signs. Then I am relieved that we are beginning to acknowledge that domestic abuse happens even in the Jewish community. Then I am hopeful that another woman sitting there will know she is not alone.

Now it is Sukkot, zeman simhatenu, the time of our joy. The harvest is in. It is time to celebrate. On Sukkot the commandment is to sit in our sukkah, a fragile temporary booth open to the elements. Even though it is fragile, I love to sit in my sukkah, watching the evening sky, the moon rise, and the geese fly overhead. It reclaims a sense of peace, wholeness. It wasn’t always so.

Not everyone feels joy at Sukkot. If you are sitting in that Read More >

5 10, 2011

Yom Kippur

By Rabbi Enid C. Lader|2011-10-05T08:09:57-04:00October 5, 2011|

By Rabbi Enid Lader “As you are able, please stand for the Kol Nidre Service…” Kol Nidre…Such powerful words. Words many of us might not understand, but powerful nonetheless. Powerful through the connections… and the feelings… and the memories they invoke. As we enter through the gates of Yom Kippur, Kol Nidre is there almost like an usher, welcoming and reminding us that this is it – the serious thinking and the self-reflection are about to begin. Kol Nidre has played many roles in my experiences of entering into Yom Kippur. At each stage of my life it has had a new and special meaning. Read More >

26 09, 2011

Rosh HaShanah

By ahsilver|2011-09-26T08:15:45-04:00September 26, 2011|

Connecting with God

By Marian Kleinman

In the story of the sacrifice of Isaac we read on Rosh HaShanah, the sacrifice asked of Abraham can be explored as symbolic of relationships such as the relationship between ourselves and God.

In today’s society, individuals are frowned upon or shunned if they tell others they are “hearing God” or hearing voices. In some of our most popular literature, this attitude is prevalent. For example, in Rowley’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Hermione, one of Harry’s sidekicks, warns Harry, “Even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn’t a good sign.”

For at least one week this past May, there was much conversation and discussion. Many people wondered and worried that the world was going to end on May 21 at 6:30 am. This was all because an evangelical broadcaster spoke and the media spread his words! If people weren’t worried, they were laughing and when Read More >

28 09, 2010

Simhat Torah: The Rebirth of the Word

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2010-09-28T19:00:53-04:00September 28, 2010|

As we approach Simhat Torah and prepare to read of the death of Moses and the creation of the world, I always find myself experiencing a feeling of anticipation and even exhilaration, as if something extraordinary were about to happen.Â In one sense, all the prayers, introspection and celebration we have done all autumn have led us to this moment: the moment when we leap from the end of the end-the conclusion of Moses’ journey and the final words of the Torah-to the beginning of the beginning, when the world is born and the divine creative process unfolds before our eyes.Â Only the intense spiritual past-future scrubbing of the High Holidays, and the powerful ritual circles of Sukkot, can bring us to this moment which is both line and circle: the ongoing interpretation of the Torah across history, the eternal Read More >

28 09, 2010

Shemini Atzeret

By ahsilver|2010-09-28T18:59:26-04:00September 28, 2010|

The three pilgrimage festivals – Pesah, Shavuot and Sukkot – are mentioned several times in the Torah – in Parshiyot Mishpatim, Ki Tisa, Emor, Pinhas, and Re’eh.Â But it is only in two of these parshiyot – Emor and Pinhas – that the Torah refers to what we now know as Sh’mini Atzeret.Â In the former, we read only that “on the eighth day, you shall observe a sacred convocation and bring and offering by fire to the Lord; it is a solemn gathering and you shall not work at your occupations” (Lev. 23:36). In the latter, we read only that “On the eighth day you shall hold a solemn gathering [and] you shall not work at your occupations” (Deut. 29:35). This is followed by a description of the various offerings to be made.

Sh’mini Read More >

14 09, 2010

Yom Kippur

By ahsilver|2010-09-14T15:36:40-04:00September 14, 2010|

By Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein

Ashamnu, Bagadnu, gazalnu, dabarnu dophi ¦..

We beat our chests as we repeat this list of sins in our liturgy over and over again during Yom Kippur. It is an alef-bet listing of sins, said in the plural form, of things we might have done wrong. The rabbis felt that by reading the list collectively that no one would be embarrassed. By limited it to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alef-bet, the list would not go on and on. Still, there are years I want to rail against this. I am not that bad.

Immediately after Kol Nidre, the liturgy says Vayomer Adonai Selahti Kidvarekha, And the Lord said, I have pardoned you according to your word (Numbers 14:20). We are told that œFor on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse yourself of all your sins: you shall be clean before Adonai. (Leviticus Read More >

8 09, 2010

Rosh HaShanah

By ahsilver|2010-09-08T10:59:07-04:00September 8, 2010|

By Rabbi Katy Allen

Look in the mirror. You are unique, but your two sides are not so different from each other. Compare the patterns of the two sides of your face. Do you see the connection? Like every other human and myriads of other organisms you exhibit bilateral symmetry – your left and right sides are mirror images.

Now look around. Compare the patterns in yourself to the patterns in a cat or a squirrel. Do you see the connections? Compare the connection between the patterns in yourself and in the squirrel to the connection between the patterns in a butterfly and in a bee. Do you see those connections? And now compare the connections among all those patterns to the connections in the patterns in a maple leaf and an oak leaf compared to those in a turtle and a frog. Is Read More >

31 03, 2010

Pesah

By ahsilver|2010-03-31T19:10:12-04:00March 31, 2010|

Shabbat Hol HaMo’ed Pesah
By Margaret Klein

We’ve cleaned, cooked, celebrated. We’ve had seders that lasted until midnight. Now it is time to celebrate again. Shabbat in the middle of Passover. A double celebration. We don’t want to sound like the Israelites wandering around in the desert but we’re tired, so tired. Why did we do all this? Is this really what God requires or are we serving some other master? It is intriguing that the root for slave Ayin-Bet-Dalet is the same root for work, for the Temple service, for worship and for servant. Did the Israelites merely substitute one slavery for another’serving God? I don’t think so.

Then this week’s Torah portion comes. Moses has just found the Israelites dancing around the Golden Calf. He smashes the tablets. He is angry and tired. He wonders what all of this is for. God demands that Moses return up the mountain again. Moses protests and Read More >

7 10, 2009

Shemini Atzeret

By ahsilver|2009-10-07T15:34:34-04:00October 7, 2009|

A Meaning in the 21st Century
By Julius Rabinowitz

This coming Shabbat we celebrate the holiday of Shemini Atzeret, a one day holiday that seems to be lacking an identity to most American Jews. Biblically, a holiday in which we are to hold a “solemn gathering”, accompanied by the annual celebration of the “prayer for rain”-albeit intended for the desert land of Israel and not for the temperate climes and year-round rainfall experienced in the Northern Hemisphere where most Diaspora Jews live. And its main “drawing” power seems to be the inclusion of a Yizkor service, less than two weeks after we gathered in synagogue for the very same commemoration. Indeed, when one looks at the Biblical origins and rabbinic modifications of the holiday, its identity appears to be bound up in the previous Sukkot holiday and its seven day joyous observance, and a respite before yet another joyous celebration the next day for Read More >

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

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