Sensing and Making Sense

Last updated on: April 19, 2023 at 10:47 am By Hebrew College

By Jessica Spencer Parashat Tazria-Metzora (Leviticus 12:1-15:33) Our bodies, with their many sensations, their flaws and flows, are hard to understand. They form both our public selves and our most private parts. Parashat Tazria-Metzora offers us two different models of how to make sense of our bodies. What can we learn from the Torah of skin diseases and discharges? What can we intuit? In Leviticus 13, we encounter graphic descriptions of skin markings: וַיְדַבֵּר יְהֹוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה וְאֶל־אַהֲרֹן לֵאמֹר׃ אָדָם כִּי־יִהְיֶה בְעוֹר־בְּשָׂרוֹ שְׂאֵת אוֹ־סַפַּחַת אוֹ... Read more

Listen, Drop The Story

Last updated on: April 10, 2023 at 3:28 pm By Hebrew College

0 Comments

By David Mahfouda Parashat Shemini (Leviticus 9:1-11:47) Last spring I taught a class about creative practice and Jewish practice. The last session in the series was about Shema—about the ways in which our own creativity stems from our ability to listen deeply and direct attention. The class’s working definition of listening was heavily influenced by Jenny Odell’s How to Do Nothing, in which she lifts up Franco Berardi’s distinction between ‘connectivity’ and ‘sensitivity.’ Connectivity is the rapid circulation of information among compatible units—an... Read more

No More Miracles

Last updated on: April 3, 2023 at 9:50 am By Hebrew College

0 Comments

By Rabbi Avi Strausberg Pesach / Passover In our early days of courting in New York City, my wife and I would take turns planning mini-adventures. One day, we’d take the ferry to Staten Island, standing on its deck, mist in our faces. The next, we’d walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and discover a local shop with homemade ice cream. Each date was an opportunity to dazzle the other person, to present them with an offering in the form of... Read more

Sustaining Eternal Flames

Last updated on: April 3, 2023 at 9:38 am By Hebrew College

0 Comments

By Rabbi Frankie Sandmel RS ‘22 Parashat Tzav (Leviticus 6:1-8:36) A favorite song—or, songs, actually—in the Jewish activist circles I often run in is a mashup which takes a verse from this week’s parashah, transformed into a chant by the illustrious Shefa Gold, and combines it with a classic protest song. The result is a powerful agitation, as organizers use that word, meaning: something to inspire a sense of self-interest and personal investment in the issue at hand. The verse, Leviticus 6:6:... Read more

Repairing the Damage

Last updated on: March 21, 2023 at 4:19 pm By Hebrew College

0 Comments

By Rabbi Leora Abelson Parashat Vayikra (Leviticus 1:1-5:26) Grace Lee Boggs, a legendary Detroit community organizer and elder of movements for racial and economic justice, taught that spiritual practice is to the individual what community organizing is to the collective. I understand this to mean that the inner work we do as individuals is intricately bound to the collective growth and transformation we have to do as humans. As individuals, spiritual practice includes learning to live in right relationship with... Read more

The Role of the Wise Heart

Last updated on: March 21, 2023 at 4:15 pm By Hebrew College

0 Comments

By Emmanuel Cantor Parashat Vayak’hel-Pekudei (Exodus 35:1-40:38) I vividly remember being in my third-grade Jewish day school class and learning about the Omer, the ritual counting of the days between Passover and Shavuot. Perhaps I had a contrarian impulse that day, as the first thing that I remember is rolling my eyes. I assumed that counting days would be a little boring. Then my teacher taught the class a song to sing before we counted, a tune set to the Torah verses... Read more

Where Was Miriam?

Last updated on: March 6, 2023 at 10:53 am By Hebrew College

0 Comments

By Leah Carnow Parashat Ki Tissa (Exodus 30:11-34:35) It was asked of the episode of the golden calf: Where was Miriam? A new version of the story emerged (a midrash)— When Moses was long in coming down from the mountain—too long—the people came to Aaron, feeling abandoned by Moses and by God. As Aaron instructed the people, Miriam watched from afar as it says, “his sister stationed herself at a distance” (Exodus 2:4). Miriam remembered how she once prophesied that... Read more

Israel’s Ancient Ouija Board

Last updated on: March 1, 2023 at 10:59 am By Hebrew College

0 Comments

By Rabbi Neal Gold Parashat Tetzaveh 5783 (Exodus 27:20-30:10) One of the great religious questions in every generation is: How can we ever be sure of what God really desires of us? Many driven people—rabbis, politicians, activists—speak of being “called” by God for a task or a role—but always there is doubt: Is it really a divine calling? Or are these things manifestations of the ego? This is an ancient dilemma as well—and yet the Torah offers one surprising shortcut to knowing God’s will.... Read more

Van Halen, Brown M&Ms, & Parashat Terumah

Last updated on: February 27, 2023 at 11:25 am By Hebrew College

0 Comments

Parashat Terumah (Exodus 25:1-27:19) Have you heard the mashal (parable) about Van Halen and the brown M&M’s? For those who haven’t: In 1982, Van Halen World Tour included a 53-page typewritten rider to their touring contract. In addition to stipulating that promoters provide the group with “herring in sour cream,” (not the subject of this post, but definitely worth thinking more about), and four cases of “Schlitz Malt Liquor beer (16 ounce cans),” the rider’s “Munchies” section famously included this caveat: “M&M’s (WARNING:... Read more

Moses and Joshua Halfway up the Mountain

Last updated on: February 13, 2023 at 1:16 pm By Hebrew College

0 Comments

By Rafi Ellenson Parashat Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1-24:18) It was as a teenager in a dingy hotel conference room in Queens that I first learned the text, “Joshua ben Perachiah would say, ‘Make for yourself a teacher, acquire for yourself a friend, and judge everyone favorably’” (Pirkei Avot 1:6). Around me were twenty-five other fresh-faced seventeen-year-olds, four wise faculty, two caring counselors, and two brilliant directors. Sharing interpretations, opinions, and personal narratives, we began to unpack this text and became each other’s teachers. The words... Read more