The Blessing of Curses: A Rosh Hashanah Puzzle
Sep 12, 2025 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Ki Tavo | Rosh Hashanah
Here鈥檚 a puzzle for us to think about as we consider the spiritual work that we need to engage in over the remaining days until Yom Kippur: The Talmud tells us鈥攊n the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar鈥攖hat Ezra the Scribe decreed that,聽for all time, the Jewish people would read the blessings and curses in Leviticus (Parashat Behukkotai) prior to the holiday of Shavuot and those of Deuteronomy (Parashat Ki Tavo) before Rosh Hashanah聽(BT聽Megillah 31b). This decree is strange. Reading these graphic and threatening chapters, which detail the good that will come if we are faithful to God and the suffering that will be wrought if we forsake our relationship with God, is difficult at any time. Why insist that we read them publicly as we ready ourselves to celebrate these joyous holidays?
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Beyond the Sermon: What the High Holiday Prayers Offer and Demand
Sep 8, 2025 By Jan Uhrbach | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
We begin our High Holiday webinar series with guidance for how to engage more meaningfully in the prayer part of High Holiday services. Famously long and repetitive, services on these days may sometimes feel overwhelming, boring, or even alienating. In this session, Rabbi Jan Uhrbach, Director of the Block / Kolker Center for Spiritual Arts at JTS, offered practical strategies for participating more fully, and insight into what these services really ask of us and what they offer鈥攅specially in tumultuous uncertain times. Along the way, Rabbi Uhrbach will share some of her favorite passages in the Conservative Movement鈥檚 Machzor Lev Shalem, for which she was a member of the Editorial Committee. Whether you鈥檙e a seasoned prayergoer or showing up with hesitation, this session will help you begin the High Holiday season with openness, intention, and agency.
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Black North, White West: Color, Grief, and the Geography of the Soul
Aug 1, 2025 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Commentary | Devarim | Tishah Be'av | Yom Kippur
There鈥檚 a tradition in ancient Semitic languages of mapping the world with colors. The north is black. The south is red. The west is white. The east鈥攕ometimes blue, sometimes green. In Arabic, the Mediterranean is still called al-ba岣 al-abya岣� al-mutawassi峁�攖he White Middle Sea. The Red Sea is to the south. The Black Sea lies to the north.
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Counting as a Spiritual Practice: Bemidbar and the Road to Shavuot
May 30, 2025 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Commentary | Bemidbar | Shavuot
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 architecture of Jewish time. Bemidbar begins with a count: “Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans, by ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head” (Num. 1:2; 讘职旨诪执住职驻址旨专 砖值讈诪讜止转 诇职讙只诇职讙职旨诇止转指诐). This act of counting seems administrative on the surface, but like so much in the Torah, its spiritual depth lies beneath.
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Who Shall Cross: A Talmudic Reimagining of the Passover Narrative
Mar 24, 2025 By Jan Uhrbach | Public Event video | Pesah
In preparation for your seder, Rabbi Jan Uhrbach, Director of the Block / Kolker Center for Spiritual Arts, led a thought-provoking session, exploring a Talmudic story that reflects key themes of Passover, raising profound questions about free will, obligation, and inclusion. How do we determine our purpose? Who are our fellow travelers, and what do we owe them? This discussion offers new insights to bring to your Passover table.
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The Day Is Short, but Our Story Is Long
Mar 14, 2025 By Yael Landman | Commentary | Ki Tissa | Purim
Within the book of Exodus, certain details link the golden calf story with the account of revelation at Sinai. Mount Sinai is the site of the Israelites forming a covenant with God, but it is also the site of them violating that covenant. It鈥檚 where God tells Moses to go up and receive the stone tablets, and where Moses carries down those tablets before he witnesses the Israelites partying and hurls the tablets to the ground. The word kol (which we might translate 鈥渟ound,鈥� 鈥渘oise,鈥� or 鈥渢hunder鈥�) recurs in the context of God鈥檚 revelation, only to recur in the account of the golden calf with respect to the Israelites鈥� ill-advised festivities. In these ways, the golden calf story is inextricably connected to the initial moment of revelation and lawgiving at Sinai, even as it threatens to destroy that covenantal foundation.
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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鈥攁 holiday that invites us to embrace the hidden, the paradoxical, and the unknown. Join Romemu鈥檚鈥疪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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