(Cross-posted from jspot)
Our parashah this week begins with that most famous of Jewish social justice rallying cries: tzedek tzedek tirdof—justice, justice, you shall pursue. Within the Jewish world, these words have become a stock means of “Jewifying” virtually any political position. Googling “justice, justice, you shall pursue” and its assorted other translations [...]
Then the officials shall address the troops, as follows: “Is there anyone who has built a new house but has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his home, lest he die in battle and another dedicate it. Is there anyone who has planted a vineyard but has never harvested it? Let him go [...]
In this week’s Torah portion, Re’eh, Moses warns the Israelites against giving in to the temptation to worship “other gods whom you have not experienced” (elohim acherim asher lo-y’datam.) Even if that urging comes from “your brother, your own mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your [...]
Dear Friends,
In this time of crisis in the Middle East, many compassionate individuals are at a loss for an effective way to help those whose lives have been disrupted by the conflict affecting Israel and Lebanon. Thousands, on both sides of the border, have been driven from their homes, or worse yet, have had their [...]
This week’s Torah portion opens with what the rabbis considered a very cryptic term: “ekev”, which most agree is intended to denote the idea of consequence. “Ekev” is the beginning of an “if…then” statement. If we will listen to all God’s laws to keep and do them, then God will keep for us [...]
At a time when we are all agonized about the violence and suffering in the Middle East and hoping for a quick resolution to the conflict, AJWS continues its global work. To that end, please mark your calendar. The “SAVE DARFUR NOW: Voices to Stop Genocide” rally will take to the streets of New York [...]
Judaism’s framework of blessings on food can appear utterly bewildering.
According to the rabbis, everything edible falls into one of six categories, each with its own blessing, and it can be more than a little confusing to determine how to categorize any given piece of food. Bananas, for instance, seem to grow on trees, so you [...]
Chest Binder: an undergarment worn by female-to-male (FTM) transexual, transgender and genderqueer people, and anyone else who chooses to flatten the appearance of their breasts.
Talit Katan: an undergarment traditionally worn by Jewish men which has knotted fringes tied to its four corners to be a reminder of the 613 mitzvot found in the Torah.
“Therefore impress [...]
This week’s Torah portion, Ekev, contains some of the most stirring language in Torah: the exhortation to feel satisfaction and to offer blessing after we have eaten, a reminder of what God demands of us (that we revere God and walk in God’s paths), the gorgeous passage that forms the latter part of the [...]
And now, O Israel, give heed to the laws and rules that I am instructing you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that Adonai, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, [...]
Lamentations Rabba, the Rabbinic exegesis and amplification of Lamentations — the sad and haunting elegy we read on Tisha B’Av — begins with an odd and compelling comment. The opening words of the scroll are “Eichah yashvah vadad/Woe is she who sits alone.” The Rabbis however read the etymological affinity of the opening word to [...]