“There is significant irony in contemporary traditional communities on Purim…”
There is significant irony in contemporary traditional communities on Purim; rabbinic overexertion of the...
Category Archives: Judaism
Considering the paradoxes of Sukkot
I love the paradoxes of Sukkot: a holiday with profound universalistic theological overtones that...
“The decision of which siddur a congregation should use is both a significant choice for any congregation, and a choice whose importance should not be exaggerated”
The decision of which siddur a congregation should use is both a significant choice...
“A mature adult faith demands that we take in difficult, painful facts and allow them to become part of our understandings of God, our language of faith and connection”
A mature adult faith demands that we take in difficult, painful facts and allow...
“Rabbi Zera merely describes a stringent practice which Babylonian Jewish women had taken upon themselves”
This term, first used by medieval commentators (see Zimmerman, p. 27, note 6), is,...
“Every Passover, we read the haggadah at the seder and we are reminded of the obligation to imagine ourselves being redeemed from Egypt…to a proud American Jew, living with equality and freedom, it seems impossible”
Every Passover, we read the haggadah at the seder and we are reminded of...
“The creators of the Mishnaic Haggadah structured it as a work of Greco-Roman rhetorical oratory, the most common and effective means of persuasion available in their culture…”
The creators of the Mishnaic Haggadah structured it as a work of Greco-Roman rhetorical...
“…scholars have argued that the Seder might be understood as a modified Roman symposium”
For over half a century, scholars have argued that the Seder might be understood...
“…the Israelites departed from Egypt, a country where this bread-beer was the only obtainable or national alcoholic luxury, to the land flowing with milk, honey, and wine…”
…the Israelites departed from Egypt, a country where this bread-beer was the only obtainable...
“…the words in Exodus xii. 19, “that which is leavened,” which in Hebrew are rendered מַחְמֶצֶת, or machmetzeth, was a beer similar to the modern Egyptian paste or bread beer…”
…I contend that the words in Exodus xii. 19, “that which is leavened,” which...