Tefillin: God’s Caress
When you lay tefillin, your hands are no longer free. You embody the mitzvah: straps are bound to your skin, parchment is pressed close to
Sophie Goldblum
When you lay tefillin, your hands are no longer free. You embody the mitzvah: straps are bound to your skin, parchment is pressed close to
Daily Elul kavanot: Short intentions guiding reflection, teshuvah, and spiritual renewal in preparation for the High Holidays.
Daily Elul kavanot: Short intentions guiding reflection, teshuvah, and spiritual renewal in preparation for the High Holidays.
Why would we ever imagine that God would break a promise? Further, what is this guarding? Are we sheep, potatoes, or loose coins that must be watched and safeguarded?
There are various ways to look at God’s revelation at Sinai, including as a “coming out.” Read Ariel Dunat’s JTS senior sermon on this.
This portion reveals the intricate layers of psychological conflicts, while revealing the love, loyalty, and trust that exist amongst us.
Unpacking Deuteronomy’s Theology: How could such a loving God allow us to suffer? Does God want us to suffer? Is it a punishment?
Stones represent the memories and wisdom gathered from living our lives. Each affirms that moment and its worthiness of being remembered.
Acknowledging God’s sovereignty marks our responsibility toward all of life, through which the one creative, life-sustaining spirit flows.
By understanding the nuance of Divine justice, we are given a powerful model for healthier relationships in the human realm.
Ilana Sandberg (JTS RS ’24) explores parashat Ki Tisa and speaks on relationships with God and other human beings.
Talia Kaplan (JTS RS ’24) explores parashat Mishpatim and the Torah of disorienting moments, reflecting on her rabbinical school experience.
Amalya Volz (JTS RS ’24) explores Parashat Yitro through the binding of love and loss and the people of Israel’s relationship with God.
When the time of Yom Kippur is upon us, we talk a lot about forgiveness. Saying “sorry” is easy—how do we forgive?
Rabbi Friedson explains the middot—soul traits—of netzach and hod and relates the required tenacity and glory to this time of year.
Our prayers are almost always a mixture of both keva (oft-recited text) and kavanah (deeper layers of meaning).
Halakhah demands that we invoke God’s name in prayer only in settings that are worthy of the sacred enterprise of prayer.
We hear from God through our participation in liturgical prayer, and also through the study of religious texts.
Visiting the sick is counted as one of the mitzvot that is rewarded both in this world and also in the World to Come.
What do I do when I go to a shivah? Remember that conversation should be about the deceased, not the mourners or the visitors.
Rabbi Mordecai Miller reflects on the Shema with 7 questions: Throughout my life, I’ve tried to understand what this sentence really means.
Shemini Atzeret is a holiday that has left Jews puzzled for generations, but it’s really about our intimate relationship with God.
T’fillah, Jewish prayer, is rooted in self-judgment, reflection, and connecting to something greater than ourselves.
By empowering children to own this decision, we’re helping them to develop into young adults, and isn’t that what a B-Mitzvah is all about?