The Masks of Doubt: Exploring Purim, Uncertainty, and the Hidden Divine
Mar 10, 2025 By Rabbi David Ingber | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Purim
Purim is a celebration of uncertainty攁 holiday that invites us to embrace the hidden, the paradoxical, and the unknown. Join Romemu疪abbi David Ingber for a deep dive into the mystical themes of Purim, where doubt becomes a gateway to faith and masks reveal more profound truths. Together, we explore how the story of Purim reflects the concealment of the Divine, the role of chance and chaos in our lives, and the profound spiritual lessons that arise when we step into the space of not knowing. Discover how Purim challenges us to find meaning and connection amid mystery.
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Sacred Words in Liturgy and Life
Oct 11, 2024 By Shira Billet | Commentary | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
Human communication, the commitment to taking words seriously and to viewing the words we write and speak as serious commitments, has become even more imperiled in an age where our words are mediated through the technologies of social media, artificial intelligence, and the crippling social phenomena of political polarization and widespread mistrust.
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Crying With God
Oct 1, 2024 By Gordon Tucker | Commentary | Rosh Hashanah
In an essay some years ago, the Israeli teacher and poet Sara Friedland ben Arza asked us to focus on the prayer Hayom Harat Olam (Today the World Stands as at Birth) in the Rosh Hashanah liturgy. She asks why, in a religious tradition that moved away so notably from ancient mythological motifs, is there a rare reference to the 渂irthing� of the world? And why is that short prayer placed just after the shofar
is blown?
Shemini Atzeret, Rain, & Resurrection
Sep 23, 2024 By Mychal Springer | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Shemini Atzeret
In this session, we explore the unique themes of the Shemini Atzeret and hold them in dialogue with this moment of brokenness, the weight of war, the complexities of peoplehood, and the ongoing need for healing and rebirth.
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Shattering Our Idols
Sep 20, 2024 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Ki Tavo | Rosh Hashanah
Judaism tantalizes the senses with the sights, sounds and fragrant smells that characterize its observance. Rosh Hashanah is certainly one of those times when we are overwhelmed by the richness of Jewish symbolism. At the heart of our New Year observances, however, lies the piercing cry of the shofar. What is the meaning of the shofar?
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Hope Through Tears
Oct 4, 2024 By Joel Seltzer | Commentary | Rosh Hashanah
The haftarah for the second day of Rosh Hashanah echoes both the violence and the promise of the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac, as Israel is described as 渢he people escaped from the sword� (Jer. 31:2), while God promises, 淭here is hope for your future攜our children shall return to their country� (31:17).
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Petition or Protest
Aug 30, 2024 By Adam Zagoria-Moffet | Commentary | Re'eh | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
Our Sages saw Hannah as trying to trap God into offering blessing, and they interpreted the same from another unlikely context, one that also occurs during this month Torah readings. We read about the apparently bizarre mitzvah ofshilu檃h haken, the sending away of the mother bird.Deut. 22:6�7is the sole description of this shockingly precise mitzvah: 淚f you happen upon a bird nest while on the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, whether with chicks in it or still-unhatched eggs, and the mother bird is sitting on the eggs or chicks, you shall not take the mother with the young. Instead, chase away the mother bird and take the young攊n order that you be well and your days long.�
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What is the Torah, Actually? Preparing for Shavuot
Jun 3, 2024 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Shavuot
We檝e heard its stories; we檝e heard it chanted in synagogue; we檝e seen it hoisted in the air displaying handwritten ink on parchment; we檝e taken classes on it. But what, actually, is the Torah? A law code? A history book? An ancient novel? A saga? None of these categorizations quite fits. In this session, we consider what defines the distinctive genre of the Torah, where this genre comes from, how it reappears in Jewish culture over the ages攁nd what addressing these questions can teach us about the Jewish religion.
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