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The Jewish Theological Seminary, a preeminent institution of higher education, trains leaders and provides vision for the Jewish community worldwide
New York, NY
Joined October 2011
Boundaries on the Move. The Torah’s varied maps of the Promised Land serve as instruction for us modern Jews. #JTSTorah
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Every week, we read a parashah from the Torah during our Shabbat morning service, and then the beginning of the next parashah during our Shabbat afternoon service. The result of reading from two...
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Fear, Truth, and a Donkey. Parashat Balak teaches us to affirm truth from love and with modesty, for there is no other path to God’s blessing. #JTSTorah.
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Bilam, the highly paid but visionless prophet, sits high in his saddle on his donkey’s back as she swerves off the path. She’s strayed, it seems, for no reason; an angel standing with sword drawn is...
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Torah: The Humanity of Moses. Moses's understanding that he is not the leader to take the Israelites into the Land is the last of the many lessons he teaches us about being human. #JTSTorah
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Moses is so very human in this week’s portion. He loses his sister to death at the start of chapter 20, and his brother at the end of that same chapter. In
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What's Wrong with Korah? The Torah makes Korah into a symbol of exactly the wrong sort of belief, even though his proposals hew closely to verses from elsewhere in the Torah. #JTSTorah
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Parashat Korah can be challenging for a modern Jew. There is a good guy in this parashah—it’s Moses—and there is a bad guy—Korah. Modern readers, however, often find themselves sympathizing with the...
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Leading Together. Parashat Beha’alotekha invites us to consider what true leadership looks like—and how it evolves when shared across generations. #JTSTorah
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To paraphrase Moses’s meltdown in Numbers 11:11–15, “Lord! I’m so done with them! I can’t take it anymore. These people are nothing but a bunch of whingeing losers.” Yet the People are doing what...
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Priests on a Pedestal. The Jewish people have long held mixed opinions about the role of the kohanim. #JTSTorah
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Modern Judaism has a problem with the priesthood. The notion of hereditary holiness—that one segment of the Jewish people is set apart from others, given ceremonial privileges, and invited to bless...
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To Count Is to Care. When the Torah opens with a census, it is opening with a question: Will you see yourself in the count? #JTSTorah
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Every year, without fail, we read Parashat Bemidbar just before the festival of Shavuot. This liturgical pairing is more than a scheduling convenience; it offers a profound insight into the spiritual...
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Who Is the Other? When we divide our communities into insiders and outsiders, we are breeding seeds of pain and rejection that could have unknown consequences. #JTSTorah
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Who is the Other? This question, which is asked more and more often in our world, is not often easy to answer. Can one choose to be part of a community? Are people who were once outsiders ever fully...
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To Be a Leader. What qualities made Aaron worthy of the priesthood? #JTSTorah
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Identifying the textual problem: commentators have noticed that the phrase “draw near unto the altar” seems superfluous. If Aaron is being commanded to “perform the service of the sin offering,” is...
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Can We Sanctify Incivility? Are there places, things, or phenomena that are so suffused with holiness that they can eclipse even those things that stand in opposition to it? #JTSTorah
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Parashat Tzav opens with instructions for the olah, the offering (primarily the twice-daily sacrifice) that is entirely burnt on the altar. The ninth chapter of the talmudic tractate Zevahim, notes...
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What Does it Mean to Be Liable? Vayikra's descriptions of liability raise important issues about community leaders and the people who follow them. #JTSTorah
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The opening parashah of Leviticus comprises regulations for the performance of sacrifices. Of these, the most complicated are the hattat and the asham offerings, discussed in chapters 4 and 5. As...
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What Do We Remember? A reminder that Jewish remembrance is about so much more than horror and destruction. #JTSTorah.
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The coming Shabbat is designated as Shabbat Zakhor. The word is quite prevalent in Jewish literature and thought, and its basic meaning is generally translated by the words “memory,” “remembrance,”...
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Don't Be the Terumah. Why does the Torah teach that setting ourselves apart from the community, like the terumah, overthrows justice? #JTSTorah
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Last week JTS, The Rabbinical Assembly, United Synagogue Youth, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Camp Ramah, the Jewish Youth Climate Movement Powered by Adamah, and Congregation Adas Israel...
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The Voice of the Shofar. In Parashat Yitro, who speaks and what is spoken? #JTSTorah
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We have now come to Parashat Yitro in our annual Torah reading cycle, arguably the most significant sedra in the Humash. While Parashat Bereishit has the
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Crossing the Divide. Like Moses approaching Pharaoh, Jews and Muslims are constantly being asked to prove themselves in today’s world. #JTSTorah.
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In the first week of 2025, the Washington Theological Consortium hosted a weeklong interfaith dialogue program at the United Lutheran Seminary in
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A Turn for the Better. Sometimes a slight pivot is enough to lead to an entirely different destination. #JTSTorah.
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In Parashat Shemot, it appears that Moses took conscious steps to operate as a lone bystander, taking action that seems unlikely had a larger crowd been present. Raised in Pharaoh’s household, now an...
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Going Out to Meet God and History. Parashat Vayetzei provided a roadmap for what it means to be Jewish in 2024. #JTSTorah.
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In what ways do the Jewish people, the descendants of Jacob, still reside in his “house”? How can we, who bear the name by which Jacob will be called in next week’s Torah portion, become the Israel...
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A Letter to Rivkah. Parashat Toledot reminds us that pregnancy has always been fraught with peril. #JTSTorah.
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Before you bravely took leave of your family, they blessed you that through your line would come thousands upon thousands of descendants. When you struggled to conceive, Yitzhak pleaded with God for...
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