From Furious to Curious

I wonder how the story would have unfolded if God had been curious rather than furious, and if when Moses came down from the mountain and witnessed the dancing, he had been able to pause and observe, noticing the feelings arising and waiting to respond until his anger had quieted down. Was it reasonable to expect these newly freed slaves, who were just beginning to experiment with their sense of autonomy, to simply wait patiently for Moses to return? 
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“She is more righteous than me”

It was impossible for me to read this week’s Torah portion—or indeed, do much else—without thinking of the House voting, just a week and a half ago, to raise substantially the barriers for Syrian refugees to enter the United States. And I saw an echo of the hysteria—yes, I will call it that—sweeping our country...
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One Land, Many Names

Jacob said to his kin: Gather stones. They took stones, made a mound, and ate there by the mound. Laban called it Yegar-Sahaduta, but Jacob called it Gal-Ed. (Gen 31:46-47) Two different languages, the same name. Witness-mound. Laban’s name for the site of this peace treaty is in Aramaic; Jacob’s is in Hebrew. How did...
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Re-digging the Wells of Justice

I’ve always felt a little bad for Yitzchak Avinu. He perennially seems to be in somebody else’s shadow. In Parashiot Lech Lecha, Vayera, and Chayei Sarah, he is a plot device in the story of Avraham and Sarah, more an idea – the promise of a child and heir, the threat of his being taken...
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As Israel Ages, Is It Coming Into Its Own?

In this week’s Torah portion, we read the following words about the first Jew ever to set out for the land we call Israel:  “V’Avraham zakein ba bayamim” – “Abraham was old, advanced in years.”  Torah scholars point out that the phrase is redundant – if he’s old, we already know he’s advanced in years. ...
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Singing at the Sea, Planting on the Mountain

“Shabbat Shirah” is so-named because its reading contains Shirat Ha-Yam, the Song of the Sea. In biblical Hebrew, the word shirah usually denotes a poem rather than music or strophic song in its commonly-known modern Hebrew sense. Many congregations use this opportunity to create special musical programming, taking the latter translation of “Shabbat of Song.”...
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Reckoning with Our Skeletons Beneath the Ground

We are not bound to the worldviews and ideologies of those who came before us, but neither can we discard the ancestors with whom we disagree. How do we engage in the often difficult spiritual task of recognizing the image of God in the forebears with whom we deeply disagree, without capitulating to or validating the ideologies they espoused?
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