Be Silent and Listen During our first Coronavirus lockdown, there was one question I was asked more than any other. What about prayer? Just when we needed it the most, we found ourselves unable to participate in tefillah be-tsibbur, public communal prayer. Our most sacred prayers, devarim she-bi-kedushah, are communal. They require a minyan. There was […]
A Nation of Storytellers Howard Gardner, professor of education and psychology at Harvard University, is one of the great minds of our time. He is best known for his theory of “multiple intelligences,” the idea that there is not one thing that can be measured and defined as intelligence but many different things – one […]
The Story We Tell The setting – Jerusalem some twenty centuries ago. The occasion – bringing first fruits to the Temple. Here is the scene as the Mishnah describes it[1]: Throughout Israel, villagers would gather in the nearest of 24 regional centers. There, overnight, they would sleep in the open air. The next morning, the leader would […]
Covenant & Conversation In two sentences in this week’s sedra, the Torah summarizes the entire relationship between God and the people of Israel: You have affirmed [he-emarta] this day that the Lord is your, God, that you will walk in His ways, that you will observe His laws and commandments and rules, and that you […]
We Are What We Remember One reason religion has survived in the modern world despite four centuries of secularization is that it answers the three questions every reflective human being will ask at some time in his or her life – Who am I? Why am I here? How then shall I live? These cannot be […]
The Pursuit of Joy Happiness, said Aristotle, is the ultimate goal at which all humans aim.[1] But in Judaism it is not necessarily so. Happiness is a high value. Ashrei, the closest Hebrew word to happiness, is the first word of the book of Psalms. We say the prayer known as Ashrei three times each day. We can surely […]
A Nation of Storytellers Howard Gardner, professor of education and psychology at Harvard University, is one of the great minds of our time. He is best known for his theory of “multiple intelligences,” the idea that there is not one thing that can be measured and defined as intelligence but many different things – one […]
A Sense of History Ki Tavo begins with the ceremony of bringing first fruits to the Temple. The Mishnah (Bikkurim 3) gives a detailed account of what happened: Those that were near to Jerusalem brought fresh figs and grapes, and those that were far away brought dried figs and raisins. Before them went the ox, […]
Listening and Law It would be reasonable to assume that a language that contains the verb “to command” must also contain the verb “to obey.” The one implies the other, just as the concept of a question implies the possibility of an answer. We would, however, be wrong. There are 613 commandments in the Torah, but […]
Freedom Means Telling the Story Here’s an experiment. Walk around the great monuments of Washington. There at the far end is the figure of Abraham Lincoln, four times life size. Around him on the walls of the memorial are the texts of two of the greatest speeches of history, the Gettysburg address and Lincoln’s second […]
