There is Beauty in the Struggle

Rabbi Bradley Artson
5779
by Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson
posted on December 18, 2018
Torah Reading
Haftarah Reading
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Making the Grade

Headshot of Rabbi Edward Feinstein
5778
by Rabbi Edward Feinstein
posted on December 24, 2017
Torah Reading
Haftarah Reading
All Jewish kids get A's. It's a fact. They're all above average. They all go on to Stanford, Brown and Berkeley. They all are the champ in debate, first violin in the orchestra, the lead in the play, the captain of the team. But what happens when they're not? What happens when they don't excel? What happens when they fail? "You're not working up to your potential," a teacher once scolded me. And I suffered. Only years later did I realized that no one "works up to their potential." Such a demand is limitless; a requirement that can never be satisfied. Read more...

Just Ourselves

Headshot of Rabbi Adam Greenwald
5777
by Rabbi Adam Greenwald
posted on January 19, 2017
Torah Reading
Haftarah Reading
Some time ago, an eighth grade student came to my office to interview me about being a rabbi. It was Career Day at her school, and her assignment was to meet with someone in an job she found interesting and ask a list of pre-prepared questions, among them: "Do you have to wear a suit to your job? How much do you get paid? Is there much heavy lifting?" Read more...

"The Truth and Nothing But the Truth?"

Headshot of Gail Labovitz
5774
by Rabbi Gail Labovitz, PhD
posted on December 8, 2013
Torah Reading
Haftarah Reading
When Jacob gathers his sons to his deathbed, he opens with this exhortation: "Gather round, that I may tell you what will befall you in the aftertime of days" (49:1). At the conclusion of his speaking, the Torah tells us, "this is what their father spoke to them; he blessed them, according to what belonged to each as blessing, he blessed them" (49:28). Already, then, a discontinuity between the opening of Jacob's discourse and its conclusion should be apparent. What is forecast to be a forecast is, once concluded, summed up as something else entirely, a blessing. Read more...