Tu B’Shvat is a holiday that places the natural world into cosmic focus, calling us to look at the divine sparks inherent in every piece of our natural world, and think about how those sparks must compel us to deeply connect to God and one another. At the same time, Tu B’Shvat also calls us to look at our understanding of our relationship to God’s creation, and how we are living up to the promise that God gives to us at the dawn of time. This article will focus on how Jewish tradition understands our relationship to the natural world as understood by the creation story, and how a creation ethic can form the heart of how we evaluate our performance as stewards of a beautiful, majestic and mysterious world.

by Rabbi Joshua Rabin

When the Talmud records that the 15th day of the month of Shevat is the birthday of the trees (1), it does so with little explanation of the significance of trees in our lives that merits celebrating their birthday. This holiday became fertile ground for our rabbis to establish new meanings and create a particular view of how trees relate to G-d’s plan for humanity. While Tu B’Shvat was associated with a kabbalistic worldview during the Middle Ages, the holiday now has become a day to commemorate our environmental obligations to G-d’s creation in modern times.

By Joshua Rabin

What do trees have to say to us within the Tradition of Israel? In the following article, the author leads us through some classical texts, introducing us to trees well-known and tress less famous, all of which are significant, however, in terms of the messages and teachings they bequeathed us. Given the possibility of listening to what these beings have to tell us, we can finally answer the calling that incessantly invites us to make of this world a better one.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

People, situations, contexts, identities and cultures are constantly changing. And with them, the festivities that make up the calendar change too. The author takes this opportunity to try and show how the emergence of Zionist thinking helped to rescue and renovate the meaning of Tu Bishvat, emphasizing some of the writing of the thinker Aaron David Gordon. In this context, the themes that will be tackled deal with the return to the land, the dilemmas of negotiating the rebirth of Jewish life on its own land and with the challenge of sharing community work in a people engaged with their values and ideals.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

The author proposes taking a look at the festival of Tu B’Shvat, which has grown and developed over the years, undergoing changes like a tree that evolves over time. It has had its periods of coming into bloom, of subsequent neglect, of suffering from centuries of harsh winter, and finally, of definitive development as a rich and fruitful festival in itself, and a source of joy for mystics and lovers of nature.

By Maximiliano Shalom

Contemplating history in general and what has happened to the Jewish people in particular, we can attest to the immense impact of totalitarian discourse and the marks it has left behind. On the one hand, we can see how from generation to generation the descendants of Haman continue to remind us of the fragility of our existence. On the other, in the way we sometimes act we can see how this venom has also affected us. This is why the Jewish tradition provides us with specific ways out of this trap, pointing to different ways for us to act, in order to break the yolks of exclusion for the sake of worlds redeemed through kindness, empathy and love.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Traditionally, Purim as a holiday is associated with lightness and celebration, characterized by carnival and costumes, and with the every present notion that the story necessitates communal celebration. Yet beneath the story of Purim lies a deeper message about the nature of celebration in the Jewish tradition, and the way in which Jews are obligated to celebrate by means of doing justice.

By Joshua Rabin

The Hebrew Bible should be understood not as a book but as a library. That means that within it we can find many voices talking together, debating together and complementing one other. In this way, based on the rich intertextuality presented to us by the various stories, the author connects the figure of Esther with the stories of Joseph, attempting to work through the common points and the apparent differences, both in form and content.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

In this text, the author proposes a tour of three different cities, each highlighting Purim in a different way according to how it appears in the story. Along the way we see the positions of characters like Haman, as well as the connections between the festival of Purim and Carnival, the novel as a literary genre, and all social movements that strive to make their voice heard in recognition of the place of others.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

by Steve Copeland

Most preschool aged children are quite adept at saying no. So what might these children have to learn from Vashti, who said “no” to dancing at the king’s party? Should young children only learn from “brave little Esther,” or are there valuable lessons to be learned from both these women of Purim?
The article suggests addressing a few valuable lessons that these two women, the Purim heroines, incarnate.

by Maxine Segal Handelman

The Book of Esther, could easily be just another of those many other legends that inspire our passion in childhood and of which we only remember vague images once we have grown up. Yet year after year, amid all the fancy dress and noise of the Purim festivity, the theatre posters keep billing this legend of powerful kings and evil villains, of gorgeous princesses and heroic salvation. The present author proposes an interpretation that focuses on around the profound significations hidden in the Megillah text and the insinuations that lie behind the veil of this children’s story.

by Guido Cohen

Purim is the Diasporic holiday par excellence. In their discussions of the Megillah text, our sages asked themselves how to articulate the functioning of a dispersed community in an effective way. In this context the author stresses the central role of remembrance and of memory, and the dangers of forgetting, apathy and lethargy. And perhaps, all things told, everything rests on our not falling asleep …

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Young children are bombarded with good guys vs. bad guys by the media every day. The Jewish holidays from winter to spring provide their own list of bad guys out to defeat the Jews. How do we help our youngest children understand that being Jewish is not ultimately about the fight for our survival, but about striving to constantly make the world a better place? A closer look at the story of Purim helps to address this question.

by Maxine Segal Handelman

Students in supplementary religious schools are accustomed to interpreting stories literally, as they do when they read stories and literature in their general studies settings. When we study Chumash with these students, we need to be prepared to answer their questions about their interpretations of Torah stories that on the surface present the heroes of our people in a negative light.

Most preschool aged children are quite adept at saying no. So what might these children have to learn from Vashti, who said “no” to dancing at the king’s party? Should young children only learn from “brave little Esther,” or are there valuable lessons to be learned from both these women of Purim?
The article suggests addressing a few valuable lessons that these two women, the Purim heroines, incarnate.

by Maxine Segal Handelman

The author departs from the interpretation of Rashi concerning the destinies of Beruriah and Rabbi Meir (Avodah zarah, 18b), and the journey focuses on that exegesist’s modus operandi in his interpretative method. She invites us to discover the bearing the precedent of the Beruriah case has had on women’s organic access to the scholarly world of our people. By sharing some paradigmatic portraits of this exceptional woman, she supports a question concerning the original intention behind the parshan: Could it have been to draw attention to conflicting aspects of Rabbi Meir’s behavior towards his wife? Or would it have been to sanction Beruriah on account of the complexity of her persona? Perhaps we still had a few centuries and sufferings to go for attention to shift away from Beruriah’s supposed guilt and onto Rabbi Meir’s responsibility.
“In any event”—she tells us—“it is not clear to me which side of the moon is the dark one, and this perush’s richness lies, perhaps, in awakening us enough to be capable of assimilating its change of light.”

By Judith Golimstok

Research tells us that young children do not find nearly enough positive female role models in the books they are read, on TV (even with the introduction of Dora) or in their daily lives. During Pesach, our children learn all about Moses and Pharaoh, but what do they learn about Miriam, Yocheved, Shifra, Puah, Bat Paroh or the Israelite women that were instrumental in helping to gain our freedom from Egypt? What do you know about these women? Learn about these women and why and HOW they should be part of your classroom’s curriculum of Pesach.

Maxine Segal Handelman

Jewish tradition teaches that G_d created the world through his word. We, created in His image and likeness, design, structure, and modify the realities in which we find ourselves immersed by means of the social languages we use. In this context, the author invites us to submerge ourselves in some of the classic Jewish texts, with a special emphasis on their semantic structure for the purpose of showing the ways in which the relationship between our rituals and women’s’ roles in them are established. Discussed are opportunities in the norms, contextual impositions, and the responsibility of taking part and, consequently, acting.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock.

The ideal of romantic love – that each of us has a perfect life partner - is rooted in the biblical story of Adam and Eve. G-d built Adam’s partner Eve from a part of his very body. But is finding our soul mate an end in itself, or is it a means to something else? Can the story of Eve’s creation shed some light on the Torah’s concept of romantic love?

By Micha Turtletaub

The Haggadah of Pesach tells us that the wicked child – had it stayed in Egypt – would not have been redeemed. Still, year after year that wicked child is invited to the Seder table instead of being excluded or marginalized. In this article, the author sets out to delve into some of the reasons cited by different interpreters as being behind the wickedness of this child; he also looks into the reasons why the child is still invited to take part in the Passover night, which reasons also attest to the fact that he too may be redeemed, after all.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Every calendar has its own internal logic. In fact, by studying the calendars of various cultures we can learn a lot about the milestones on which they are based and about those events that mark the history of a people forever. In the case of the tradition of Israel, we can find various layers of meaning in the luach, taking as our point of departure the different starting points of the year according to Judaism. In this text the author suggests going in pursuit of Pesach not only as the beginning of the ancient harvest season but also of the Jewish year in reminding us of the Exodus from Egypt. In this context he will work through three central themes that made, and keep on making, the Exodus possible.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Fire, an element powerful not only in light and heat but in connotations and symbologies, has fascinated poets and sages alike ever since it first appeared on the human stage. Fire is the portal beyond which this text and its authors invite us in to rediscover the first encounter between G-d and Moshe through that mysterious bush that burned without being consumed. The fire that burns in the blackberry bush also ignites Moshe’s heart and he transforms his sighting of the enigmatic phenomenon into the vision of future liberty for the people to whom he discovers he belongs and whom he is summoned to lead. In the warmth of a story that both shines and illuminates, the authors suggest we rediscover the power of a flame in the history of a people.

By Judith Golimstok and Guido Cohen

Pesach is the holiday of questions par excellence. And among these questions, Pesach calls us to answer to the origins of the nascent people that—according to the traditional narrative—left Egypt together. Yet to ask about origins is a complex task requiring our intellectual, emotional and spiritual maturity. In this article, the author seeks to establish some parameters for analyzing the origins of the People of Israel by covering texts that take us back to the creation of the world and by positing the need to differentiate between history and story. Only then can multiple meanings complement and reinforce each other. Only then does the door open not only for finding out where we come from but also where we wish to go.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

When we think about the Pesach festival, we can trace a trajectory stretching from Shirat HaIam, the song of the People of Israel sung upon their crossing the Sea of Reeds, all the way to Shir ha Shirim, the Song of Songs, which is nothing less than the text chosen by our tradition to be read in mid festival.

Departing from the dichotomy both poems represent, the author attempts to show how music has played a fundamental role in Judaism for many years, while taking an in-depth look at the various paradigms that can be gleaned from analyzing the texts. This being the case, models are constructed among lyrics and melodies, which govern man’s relationship to people and the people’s to G-d.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Research tells us that young children do not find nearly enough positive female role models in the books they are read, on TV (even with the introduction of Dora) or in their daily lives. During Pesach, our children learn all about Moses and Pharaoh, but what do they learn about Miriam, Yocheved, Shifra, Puah, Bat Paroh or the Israelite women that were instrumental in helping to gain our freedom from Egypt? What do you know about these women? Learn about these women and why and HOW they should be part of your classroom’s curriculum of Pesach.

Maxine Segal Handelman

The powerful “Seder experience” and its transformative potential perhaps explain why, of the rich array of Jewish holiday celebrations and traditions, the Seder ritual is the one most prominent and widespread among Jews today. Yet despite our genuine praise of the Seder, we must acknowledge the all-too-frequent appearance of a painful gap between the real Seders (sedarim) we experience and the ideal transformational Seder we envision and only occasionally experience.

by Marc Silverman

Then Eliahu remembered the words that a prophet, called Malachi, had said about him some years back: “Look! The prophet Eliahu is before you...." Apparently, some could not see him. As legend has it, he simply gave the impression of being like any other person and allowed himself to be invited. Thus, those who opened their doors to receive him, without knowing it, were opening the doors of the transcendental.

Focusing on the custom of receiving guests at the Seder table, the author proposes accompanying a very special personage as he stops by at three Sedarim in three different ages. Let’s pull up a chair and see how this mysterious visitor is received!

by Rabbi Guido Cohen

In this article, the author seeks to demonstrate the ways in which the Pesach Haggadah is structured like a rhetorical text that enables readers and Seder night participants to take a position and construct their identities in a dynamic way and always by means of dialogue.
In light of these considerations, and assisted by the writings of Mikhail Bakhtin, an integral part of the present work consists in responding to the question of what it is that makes a wicked son into a wicked son so far removed from the spirit that Pesach, as reflected in the Haggadah, celebrates.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

There are certain questions that seem destined to remain unanswered - or, at least, for which there appears to be no single or definitive answer. Inquiries into the meaning of personal and national tragedies doubtless belong to this group. In this article, the author proposes we reinforce this notion by immersing ourselves in classical texts, which will also afford us an opportunity to discern the roots of certain contemporary schools of theology that arose in the wake of the Shoah.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

In January of 1942, at a meeting known as the Wannsee Conference, in the middle of WWII, the German authorities decided to implement the final solution—in other words, a plan for the deportation en masse of the Jewish population to the east for the purpose of using them as forced labor. It was foreseen that many of them would die from the horrible conditions in which they were to be kept, and it was anticipated that the survivors would need to be “treated accordingly,” i.e. exterminated (see Appendix 6). This was indeed the goal of the final solution: to terminate the Jewish presence in Europe, once and for all. The plan, which consisted of eliminating all the European Jewish populations, included a high degree of state planning and technological innovation, thus constituting one of the process’s most outstanding features: Technological advances and productive rationality would explicitly not be employed to enrich mankind or even to produce goods, but to systematically and rationally plan an entire complex of machinery, personnel, new technologies, transport, civil servants, bureaucratic orders, etc., and set up an efficient chain of production with which to kill the greatest number of people in the most effective and efficient way possible—the goal was in and of itself to murder that part of the population.

By Enrique Herszkowich

"...How we teach the Holocaust-what are its lessons, and are they true to the legacy the survivors want to leave behind?

Below is an examination of what the survivors wanted to accomplish and what they have accomplished. In some areas they succeeded admirably, particularly in the public arena and at the university level. On the other hand, what is happening in secular and Jewish high school classrooms is another story altogether-and depending on who is teaching and how, results will vary. In the best case scenario, the result is character development of a young person into a decent, caring human being. In the worst, Holocaust education becomes a tool that creates disdain for Jewish people, ramps up the Victim Olympics, and creates the opposite of what it was supposed to do-old fashioned antisemitism and self-hatred with a modern twist.

By Jeanette Friedman

Each people articulates its way of seeing the world through the adoption of certain stories, symbols or rituals that carry the central values that construct the group identity. Thus, if we take the time to analyze some of these stories, symbols or rituals, we come closer to the core identity of the people or tradition that we wish to study and understand.

In this article, the author suggests that we first tackle the national symbols of the State of Israel so that we can then concentrate on one of the values emanating from Israel’s national anthem: hope. The aim is to see how that value crosses through the history not only of the Medina but also that it is an indissoluble part of the future of the people that, clinging to hope, knew how to organize itself and carry on, even in the most difficult times. By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

This essay offers an alternative ‘oppositional’ road to Israel education. It contends that the prevailing Jewish educational theories of Israel conceive the decisive goals of Israel education in terms of generating in learners a strong sense of Jewish cultural continuity between the Israeli present and the Jewish past. The ‘oppositional’ road to Israel education emphasizes the revolutionary and discontinuous aspects of Zionism and the State of Israel. It validates the unprecedented political cultural challenges and opportunities embedded in and emerging out of Jewish statehood and views Jewish learners’ engagement with them as the primary aim of Israel education for Jews world-wide today.
Offering innovative perspectives on Israel’s possible place in Jewish life and culture today as it attempts to do, this essay extends a warm welcome to Jewish cultural-educational leaders and learners world-wide to learn about, reflect upon and consider these perspectives.

By Dr. Marc Silverman

The reemergence of the national state of the Jewish People in the land of Israel calls us both to shared joy and to reflection on certain crucial points in the Jewish thought of all ages.

The existence of the State of Israel can be understood from a perspective inviting us to stand up as an exemplary society that functions as a paradigm for other nations, but it can also be experienced as the attempt to be just another country, without claiming to be a light or compass to anyone, finding in the land the space to live in peace, without being persecuted by any other people. Thus, to begin with, Israel must be able to respond to the following: Do we accept the challenge of being a “light to the nations” (Isaiah 42:6), or do we prefer to be “like all the nations” in the land (I Samuel 8:5)?

In this sense, the article proposes we examine some of these points by means of questions that open up dialogues in an attempt to explore positions that lie latent in the Jewish texts, but which have taken on great relevance with the rise of the State and with the challenges generated by it.

Thus, the independence of Israel is seen in the light—for example—of the idea of the holiness of the land, the involvement of G_d in history, and of the relations to be strengthened between those who live in Israel and those who do not.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

On May 14th of 1948, during an armed conflict that had begun six months previously, and which would continue for one more year, the Jewish government of Palestine declared the independence of the new State of Israel. Thus began the story of a new country, which, though not accepted by all, was quickly integrated into the countries of the world. The history of the State of Israel, however, began long before. We would have to go back at least another sixty years in order to begin to understand why the Jewish state forever changed the identity, references, and customs of the majority of Jews in all four corners of the globe.
Up until the present day the majority of Jews in the world live outside Israel. Why then is it such a central point of reference for all of us? What is, what was, what would continue to be the difference between the existence and non-existence of a Jewish state for Jews who are citizens of other states?
In responding to these questions, a good starting point would be a world very different to the one we know today.

by Enrique Herszkowich

While Lag BaOmer is a holiday associated with picnics, barbeques and springtime, the holiday’s origins are fascinating, and the lessons we can draw about Lag BaOmer’s meaning begin by examining the significance of Rabbi Akiva in rabbinic Judaism, and how his leadership as a teacher of Torah provides a window for us to understanding Lag BaOmer’s message for his generation all that would follow. Lag BaOmer’s message is rooted in what Torah study is meant to accomplishment, and what happens when we fail at our task at making Torah learning a catalyst for Torah living.

Bar Kokhba is one of the traditional heroes of Lag BaOmer. His original name was Shimon ben Kozba. Why then do we know him as Bar Kokhba? Because Rabbi Akiva – the great sage of his generation – changed the latter’s name in order to imply that the leader of the revolt against the Romans was the Messiah.
In this article the author invites us to review certain interesting rabbinical sources on the figure of Bar Kokhba and then to move on to some medieval reflections on the man. The essay finishes off by looking at some contemporary thoughts concerning the role of the Messiah and the Messianic Age in our own time.

One of the main characters in Lag BaOmer is Rabbi Akiva. This memorable sage lived in the times of the revolt of Bar Kokhba, and even in the worst circumstances he continued to uphold love as a fundamental value from which to understand and live life. This text presents a general introduction to this highly confused epoch, to later look into the relationship that existed between Rabbi Akiva and Lag BaOmer. Lastly, the article quotes a series of stories that link our sage with love in its many different forms: for his wife, his pupils, his neighbor, the Torah and G-d.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

At first glance Lag BaOmer might seem like a date that passes through the Hebrew calendar without making too much noise. However, upon closer inspection, we see how this day gradually acquired new and renewed meanings in the course of multiple transformations that manifest themselves in various ways.
In this article, the author attempts to show some of the ways in which these changes gestated, and how Lag BaOmer finally managed to distinguish itself in the flow of dates that makes up our calendar.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

This article returns to the roots of Lag Baomer to explore the origins and reasons behind the ways in which the period of the counting of the omer is observed. By delving into the history of this time period (just after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E), in particular the path of Rabbi Akiva and his students the power of optimism, perseverance and most specifically respect are revealed.

by Rabbi Micha Turtletaub

There are probably few cities in the world that evoke the images that Jerusalem evokes. Tension between the past and present, but also between the ancient and the modern; between religions but also between the religious and the secular; between nations but also between the East and West; lastly - although the list could go on - between the two images of the West and the East: those confronted every day in concrete facts and those that are shaped by the imagination, fears and hopes of each side.
What were the origins of these tensions, of this labyrinth of these junctions and missed encounters? When did the stones begin to come to life and to take lives? What was the past of this spot that is so minuscule on the planet but so powerful in its emotional, political and religious significance?
A brief tour through these next few pages will attempt to unravel some of the mysteries of the City of Peace.

By Enrique Herszkowich

In this article, the author attempts to present Jerusalem as possessing a double function; one spatio-geographical—to which the Jewish people were able to return after many years; the other as a symbol that was able to erect itself in a concentration of hope and longing, of redemption and utopia. Jerusalem, terrestrial and celestial, loses sight of the borders between the symbolic and the real as it becomes transformed by our actions into a place of paradigm, inviting us to strive not towards territorial quarrels, but in favor of sincere spaces for fraternal encounter and dialogue.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Rabbi Zeira, in the Midrash Ruth Rabbah, asks: What is the reason for writing a book that lacks rules about purities and impurities, which does neither prohibits nor permits? In other words, what does the Book of Ruth bring to a potential Jewish reader of the Tanach? Over the passage of time, various exegetes, thinkers and researchers of the text arrived at different conclusions about its meaning and intentionality. In the following lines the author proposes reflecting on the contribution that a critical reading of the Megillah can offer us when we think about contemporary Judaism and identity itself, centering on the idea that the Book of Ruth confronts us with the question about the style of Jewish community that we want to be in its link with 'others'.
Probably written in response to the dominant position of Ezra and Nechemia concerning assimilation and the mixing of the Jews that returned to Zion with the local inhabitants, the Megillah proposes thinking about a Judaism of “open doors” : not judging people for their past but for their present and for their future perspective.
In the story of Ruth’s family and in the origins of Boaz as in the different sections of the Megillah, we see how people whose origins are not very 'pure' become the founders of one of the noblest families in the history of Israel: the House of David.

By Rabbi Guido Cohen

On Shavuot, Jews celebrate the handing over of the Torah and the fact that G-d chose us as His people. But what does this choice mean? What are its terms and conditions? In this article the author explores the genealogy of the concept of choice in the Jewish tradition to see how it acquired different shades of meaning as it was molded by different authors, looking specifically at the stances of a story of the Talmud, of Maimonides and of Rabbi Yehuda haLevi.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

For centuries, Jews gave great importance to the event of the handing over of the Torah, celebrated on Shavuot, by means of figurative and narrative illustrations in mahzorim (1), tanachim (2) and haggadot and interpretation and reinterpretation of the Second Commandment to define artistic creation and avoid falling into the domain of idolatry. Within the framework of these interpretations we see the creativity of the Jewish artists who create with intelligence and wisdom to honour the Second Commandment. This article invites us to explore how some of these interpretations visually reflect two sources: the Mahzor Bnei Roma and the Birds’ Head Haggadah.

By Tamara Kohn

Just as the Torah has many faces, many are the ways of connecting with it and through it. In this article, the author invites us on a tour of four classical paradigms, each with its own characteristics and peculiarities. In parallel to the four children of the Haggadah of Pesach, the text delves into the lives of the pragmatist, the idealist, the seeker and the educator—lives borne of the Torah, lives that draw their sustenance from their relationship with it, lives that encourage us all to choose with whom we identify most.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Franz Rosenzweig wrote almost a century ago that one of the basic concepts in the Jewish Tradition was that of revelation, in that it constitutes a sphere of relations between man and G_d. In this article, the author sets out to analyze some of the central points that make up our understanding of this concept, which, despite its fundamental character is not exempt from challenges and problems. On the basis of this primary analysis of the plurality of faces of both the Torah and G_d, the article works in the main with the visions of Yeshayahu Leibowitz and Abraham Joshua Heschel concerning revelation, and it shows how those modern thinkers approached this subject.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

The Rabbis tell us that each one of us stood and received the message at Mt.Sinai. Still, communicating this to young children is difficult. Concrete thinkers that they are, they don't remember standing at Sinai. With dedication and some flair, we can combine a playful experience of being at Sinai with an enduring connection to the Torah, mix in some opportunities to reflect and revisit the experience and truly bring children to stand at Sinai.

by Maxine Segal Handelman

Two love stories dominate the scene during the Shavuot holiday. God and the people of Israel make a pact of eternal love, wherein the “wedding ring” is a commitment to observe and transmit the Torah. In celebration of this alliance, each year the people make a gift of their bikurim to God on the day of its commemoration. On the other hand, the story of Ruth teaches us that a commitment to good actions is the ideal environment in which to enter into a solid and enduring relationship. For this reason, perhaps, this festivity is not only Chag Hashavuot, the Feast of Weeks, but also Chag HaShevuot, the Feast of Promises, of commitments.

By Guido Cohen

The Torah is God’s great objective gift to all of us; but its reception and application to our lives is the subjective personal response-ability of each and every one of us as individual members of the Jewish people; we commemorate and celebrate the gift; it’s up to each of us to make good use of it!
Following this rabbi’s cue, I want to share with you in this essay my personal reception, interpretation and application of this great gift lent to us at Mt. Sinai: realistic messianism. This pair of terms “realistic messiansm” may legitimately be perceived, certainly at first glance, as an oxymoron. I hope to demonstrate in the course of this essay, the two terms composing it are dialectically interrelated: The strong drive and resolute determination to strive to humanize the world is encapsulated in the noun messianism; and the means to head in the direction towards this humanization and to ever-approach arriving at it are encapsulated in the qualifying adjective “realistic”. Furthermore, this adjective is meant to serve as a powerful anti-dote to the dangerous pitfalls into which other types of messianism - unrealistic and other-worldly ones - fall.

By Marc Silverman

Evil and suffering have always been central themes in the theology of any religious tradition. During these days of Bein HaMetzarim, between the straits of destruction, the author proposes articulating some visions that throughout history have tried to explain the tragedies that have befallen us as a people. From Jerusalem to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in the Middle Ages to the Shoah, one can appreciate some of the main myths that crisscross Jewish theology in relation to the idea of theodicy. The challenge here is to think about our own position when faced with the existence of evil.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Tisha B’Av is not about the destruction of the Temple. Although the 9th day of the month of Av is most commonly associated with the destruction of the first and second temples in Jerusalem, our Jewish tradition considers the primary meaning of Tisha B’Av to be far greater than two events in Jewish history, however tragic they were. Instead it ultimately links Tisha B’Av with a series of tragedies that force all Jews to think about what it means to experience despair, how our experiences must affect our identification with the suffering of others, and how we can never forget that the order of our world today does not remove possibility of disorder and chaos tomorrow.

by Rabbi Joshua Rabin

Evil and suffering have always been central themes in the theology of any religious tradition. During these days of Bein HaMetzarim, between the straits of destruction, the author proposes articulating some visions that throughout history have tried to explain the tragedies that have befallen us as a people. From Jerusalem to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in the Middle Ages to the Shoah, one can appreciate some of the main myths that crisscross Jewish theology in relation to the idea of theodicy. The challenge here is to think about our own position when faced with the existence of evil.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

An important part of understanding the true nature of the days of mourning in our tradition involves our going back to their historical context to appreciate that at these times of the year we commemorate the siege and subsequent fall of Jerusalem and of the loss of Jewish presence there. In this piece, the author proposes a review of some classical texts referring to fasts and sieges; he leads us down a path that passes through traditional explanations and leads to an existential view of what is the matter with us—as a people, as people, and as a tradition—when we believe that by placing ourselves under siege we will find the solutions to our challenges and dilemmas.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

In Jewish history, filled with dramatic events and dates, the ninth of Av, Tisha B’Av, stands by itself. The very fact that the Jewish tradition, which avoids asceticism, marks this occasion with a fast day indicates the relevancy of the events of more than three thousand years ago for all generations.Through this article the author invites us to reflect on what are we, who live hundreds and hundreds of years after the events under discussion, to do. Can we do something besides grieve over the shortsightedness of our forebears and sup with a full spoon from the bitter consequences of spiritual blindness? We can and we do.

By Rabbi Israel Eizensharf

Individual’s or self-identifying and identifiable human groups’ greatest weakness often lie directly beneath on the reverse side of their greatest strength. Refraining from taking life for granted, developing critical perspectives on “what is” out of hope for making a better future, wisdom about life’s possible profound meanings and about living lives pregnant with positive constructive meaning. At the same time, the longevity - breadth and depth - of these experiences have so often been accompanied by tension-laden, inimical, hostile, violent and blood-shedding relationships between them and between the other cultures, societies and political regimes of the places world-wide in which they lived. Precisely because of the constancy and consistency of these powerfully problematic and pernicious aspects in the relationships between Jews and other peoples, the greatest possible weakness of the Jewish people is their close to in-built, natural fear and distrust of “others”, and of life itself, in the fullness of its ‘present-presence’.
In light of these thoughts the author reflects with us on how to commemorate the two interrelated fast days of the 17th day of Tamuz and the 9th of Av and the days between them (ha’yamim ben ha’meitzarim) in the innovative and unprecedented context of what an Independent Jewish State represents to contemporary Judaism.

By Marc Silverman

The following article assumes the subjectivity and particularity of each historical construction, affirming the notion that the destruction occurring on the 9th of Av cannot be perceived in the same way by Romans, Jews, and historians. From there, the author looks at a famous Talmudic text on the historical consequences arising from the Temple’s downfall, and shows how, sometimes, theological descriptions can be the proper conduits for discussing human paradigms.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

The Shofar is undoubtedly one of the most recognized symbols of the Judaism in the world, a ritual object most commonly associated with the Yamim Noraim (High Holidays), yet is a symbol of biblical and rabbinic significance, whose meanings multiplied over time, and became one of the iconic rituals of the Jewish tradition. In the twenty-first century, we are now challenged to continue to find new meanings for the sounding of Shofar, using this ancient ritual to once again “awaken us from our slumbers,” (1) to Maimonides’ words, and continue to call us to repentance, action and change.

by Rabbi Joshua Rabin

The Jewish Tradition has it that Rosh Hashanah is not only a time for change and of preparation for Yom Kippur, but also the very birthday of the entire world. Or, if you prefer, a new anniversary of the creation of the first man and the first woman.
Rosh Hashanah is a time for us to reconnect both with creation and our own creativity, for putting into practice the challenge of getting out of the sieges that often – and in the belief, even, that they protect us—end up drowning in our own being, which becomes void of meaning when it cannot feed on the surrounding world.
On this occasion, the idea is to be able to press on in our search for texts from different ages that show us that we are responsible for the world we live in, and how, should we wish to free ourselves of these mental blinkers, there are many roads to doing so.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

The title of this essay, borrowed from the title of Neil Postman’s book “The end of education" (1996) with the addition of Jewish as an adjective qualifying the last word in it (‘education’), plays on the double - meaning of the term 'end': as a purpose, goal or direction and end as a dissolution and termination of any specific event or phenomenon in our human reality. The Hebrew month of Elul, whose acronym is Anee Le’Dodee Ve’Dodee Lee, “I am my lover’s and my lover is mine”, during which we are called upon to conduct a religious-ethical accounting of ourselves and our actions in the way of preparing ourselves to enter into the 10 days of Awe beginning on the first day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, is a very suitable time to address this double-edged question of the ‘end’ of Jewish culture and education.

The High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur afford us a fantastic opportunity for spiritual growth. Although they are opposites in the sense that Rosh Hashanah emphasizes judgment and Yom Kippur mercy, we can build from one to the other to create a spiritual strategic plan that will help us develop our character throughout the year.

By Rabbi Micha Turtletaub

It is time to broaden our approach to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur from apples and honey to include the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. There are lessons to be learned from each of these characters and from the ways (positively and negatively) they interacted with each other. Emotions rage, dreams are dashed and fulfilled, messages are misunderstood. Using the story as the vehicle, these lessons can be referred back to throughout the year.

By Maxine Segal Handelman

In the hope of enriching our own practice and understanding of Teshuva and education as persons and professional Jewish teachers, educators, and counselors who will soon take part in the practices and processes of the Days of Awe, Professor Marc Silverman explores the features of the remarkable educational approach of the humanist and educator Janush Korczak(1878/9-1942).

By Marc Silverman

One of the central metaphors used by the Jewish texts to define G-d is that of King. In fact, in the liturgy for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the word G-d is explicitly replaced by the word King, exalting the ruler of the universe. But what kind of ruler are we talking about? What are his characteristics and qualities? In this article, the author suggests that we deal with two traditional exegeses that explain two differing theological models and the consequences of embracing each of these paradigms. And in the process, he links classical Jewish theology with several ideas that arise from chemistry as deduced from the periodic table of elements.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

In his introduction to the Book of Jonah, Yair Zakovitch remarks that the Jonah is less a story of prophecy than a story about a prophet (1). While Jonah’s actual prophecy to Nineveh lasts only a single verse (Jonah 3:4), the four-chapter narrative allows the reader to see a prophet struggle with his fulfillment of a prophetic call.

As a result, the question becomes how we can understand nature of the relationship between Jonah and God in this narrative, and how their relationship elucidates what precisely caused Jonah to flee, and what God sought to teach Jonah. This article outlines some approaches scholars have taken to understanding the nature of the relationship between Jonah and God in this narrative, using biblical, rabbinic, and modern sources.

By Joshua Rabin

In this article the author proposes a conceptual approach to the place and function of prayer in general and of Yamim Noraim in particular. With the forty days between Elul and Yom Kippur as a point of departure, the article aims at responding to the question of how prayer can help us to change and to focus on those aspects of ourselves we seek to improve. To conclude, the author shares three contemporary conceptions concerning the idea of prayer, providing insights that might contribute to our own concept of what prayer means.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock.

The Book of Yonah, with its multiplicity of implications, is perhaps the most unexpected of all the canonical texts. A children’s tale with no beginning or end? A documentary narrative? An allegory telling of the wanderings of the human soul? A parable illustrating certain moral postulates? And the most important thing–why is this included in the canon and thus preserved for us of the present age?
Practically all the characters of this short narrative behave strangely, at variance with their own nature and the precepts, thus disappointing the expectations of an experienced reader.

Stories of the eve of Yom Kippur constitute a genre of their own in Talmudic literature. Strange and unpredictable situations present themselves to the sages at this moment when time seems to pass more rapidly than usual and the imminence of the Day of Judgment is already a fact. Nevertheless, during those instants before the day in all its sacredness has arrived, the mundane bursts in with force, with the aim of making us think deeply about the preparation necessary to face the solemnity of the coming day. To keep that very intense moment of the eve from catching us unprepared, let’s review some of these stories together and learn from what happened to the sages of the Talmud in those minutes of transition between the profane and the sacred.

By Guido Cohen

The High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur afford us a fantastic opportunity for spiritual growth. Although they are opposites in the sense that Rosh Hashanah emphasizes judgment and Yom Kippur mercy, we can build from one to the other to create a spiritual strategic plan that will help us develop our character throughout the year.

By Rabbi Micha Turtletaub

It is time to broaden our approach to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur from apples and honey to include the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. There are lessons to be learned from each of these characters and from the ways (positively and negatively) they interacted with each other. Emotions rage, dreams are dashed and fulfilled, messages are misunderstood. Using the story as the vehicle, these lessons can be referred back to throughout the year.

By Maxine Segal Handelman

In the hope of enriching our own practice and understanding of Teshuva and education as persons and professional Jewish teachers, educators, and counselors who will soon take part in the practices and processes of the Days of Awe, Professor Marc Silverman explores the features of the remarkable educational approach of the humanist and educator Janush Korczak(1878/9-1942).

By Marc Silverman

Why do we start the Jewish year by celebrating the harvest of the fruits of the land? Shouldn’t we start by celebrating the sowing season? Does it make sense to start with the end? Attempts are made to answer some of these questions in this article. And even though we might object that Sukkot in the Torah is the third and not the first of the Pilgrim Festivals, in this text the author tries to make some sense of the present-day Hebrew calendar, by comprehending what place should be afforded tradition as a whole, and how we can relate to it, both in our capacity as heirs and also as pioneers and innovators.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Inviting ushpizin and ushpizot each day elevates and expands the joy of Sukkot. Sukkot is the ultimate opportunity to engage in the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim – hospitality. But on Sukkot we do not just invite friends and family. One Sukkot custom that became popular in the Middle Ages, based on the mystical text known as the Zohar, was to invite "invisible" guests to the sukkah along with "visible" ones. Following the article you will find a list of ready-to-tell stories for each of the traditional ushpizin and ushpizot. Bring these stories to life in the sukkah, and give children the tools to act out the stories further on their own and to act out the mitzvah hachnasat orchim. And it will truly be z’man simchateinu – the time of our rejoicing.

By Maxine Segal Handelman

If at Rosh Hashanah we rethink our relationship with G_d, on Yom Kippur we attempt to renew the bond connecting us to ourselves, and at Succot we find our place within the community anew, then Simchat Torah is the Jewish holiday on which we again reflect on the relationship we establish (or fail to establish) with the Torah as a significant text for our identity and our tradition.
The author compares and contrasts academicist paradigms with the significant study of the Biblical text in communitarian environments, inviting us to set the “objective” approach aside—if only for a moment—in order to achieve a focus that, instead of dissociating us from the text, places us in a dialogical relationship to it.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Mystics tell us that in each of these special guests there is a specific prominent quality connected to one of the ways in which G_d makes himself manifest on Earth (the Sefirot). By studying in greater depth some of the stories involving these personalities that became Ushpizim we will reach an understanding of whom and what we should make room for in the sukkah. And of course we will cover the subject of with what attributes we should prepare ourselves so that, should they happen to drop in, we can make them feel at home.

By Guido Cohen

In the progression of any calendar there are specific moments at which time would seem to condense, taking on volume and density. This transformed dimension, this condensed state of time, can gradually establish itself to various degrees and on various levels, producing a multitude of vectors of meaning that sometimes follow parallel paths and at other times are interwoven and strengthened. If we look at our calendar, we can see that the festivals are signs that invite us to participate in sacred moments, moments that are different and separate from our daily routine. Sukkot, among all our celebrations, is one of those moments of convergent density. But what does this really mean? What are the origins and the scope of such assertions? In the next paragraphs we will attempt to find the answers.
By Joshua Kullock

What does it mean to celebrate the Torah? While on Shavuot we celebrate God’s giving of the Torah to the Jewish people, a gift from God to us, Simchat Torah celebrates our completion of reading the Torah, an act we direct back to God. While Simchat Torah’s origins as a holiday are obscure, this holiday represents everything unique about the Jewish people, and challenges us to become exemplars of the Torah’s message to one another and all of humanity, and it’s significance today is perhaps more important than ever.

by Rabbi Joshua Rabin

If at Rosh Hashanah we rethink our relationship with G_d, on Yom Kippur we attempt to renew the bond connecting us to ourselves, and at Succot we find our place within the community anew, then Simchat Torah is the Jewish holiday on which we again reflect on the relationship we establish (or fail to establish) with the Torah as a significant text for our identity and our tradition.
The author compares and contrasts academicist paradigms with the significant study of the Biblical text in communitarian environments, inviting us to set the “objective” approach aside—if only for a moment—in order to achieve a focus that, instead of dissociating us from the text, places us in a dialogical relationship to it.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Once again, the calendar brings us closer to the memory of Yitzhak Rabin Z”L, a warrior of dialogue who was assassinated by a brother incapable of resorting to words, opting for violence instead. It is precisely in the face of intolerant, dialogue-shunning violence that this text proposes we recover the value of conversation and words as antidotes to the intolerance and fundamentalism that have claimed so many lives from the days of Cain and Abel to the present.
Of all the mysterious ways to communicate, few situations could be more enigmatic than a spell of silence. In this piece, the author suggests we examine some of the different interpretations throughout the ages that have attempted to make sense of one of the most disturbing passages in the Bible. He then shares his personal views on the silence preceding the first murder, an instance of both fratricide and genocide.

By Rabbi Guido Cohen

Using as a starting point an excerpt from Shir la Shalom, the last peace song sung out loud by Yitzhak Rabin before being assassinated, the author proposes going over a curious Midrash, reviewing the story of Gedaliah ben Achikam, and ending by reflecting on what we can or must do to change the paradigms that to this day suggest we silence dissidence.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Sadly, throughout the centuries Jewish history has witnessed many instances of pogroms and attacks perpetrated against our people. Among these, the Night of Broken Glass was one of the most virulent incidents of the 20th century, not only on account of material damages caused on that fateful night, but also because it served as a prelude to what came later. In this sense, the Kristallnacht can be understood as a metaphor for a rupture that went far beyond broken glass, one that obliges us to reconstruct our world and the way in which we learn based on the fragments we have. In this article the author invites us to analyze the positions of two Jewish thinkers who experienced the Shoah first-hand and had to discuss its consequences in their writings. Heschel’s gaze towards the past and Jonas’s towards the future discussed in order for us to ask ourselves what we are doing with our own present.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

"...How we teach the Holocaust-what are its lessons, and are they true to the legacy the survivors want to leave behind?

Below is an examination of what the survivors wanted to accomplish and what they have accomplished. In some areas they succeeded admirably, particularly in the public arena and at the university level. On the other hand, what is happening in secular and Jewish high school classrooms is another story altogether-and depending on who is teaching and how, results will vary. In the best case scenario, the result is character development of a young person into a decent, caring human being. In the worst, Holocaust education becomes a tool that creates disdain for Jewish people, ramps up the Victim Olympics, and creates the opposite of what it was supposed to do-old fashioned antisemitism and self-hatred with a modern twist.

By Jeanette Friedman

Better to be flexible like a reed than rigid like a cedar, the Talmud teaches us - and our tradition had endeavored to foster tolerance ever since, even though at times doing so has not always been that simple. In this article, the author looks at three Talmudic stories showing the kinds of nefarious consequences intolerant and inflexible attitudes arising in the heart of the Bet haMidrash (“the House of Study”) could sometimes have.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

To sow the seeds of respect and tolerance in the water-proof and hermetically sealed earth of egotism that surrounds us seems an almost utopian task. For us to aspire to incarnating and incorporating these values all year round, it is important that we appreciate all that we need to change about our society for this to be able to happen. In this text the author attempts to relate the concept of tolerance with that of being a foreigner, positing the notion that one of the paths to acceptance of difference lies in dissolving the dichotomy between the autochthonous and the foreign, by understanding that in the contemporary world we are all foreigners, and that it is from this vantage point that we have to mutually recognize each other.
By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Can religion contribute to the edification of a pluralist, democratic, and fraternal society? Here, the author's intention is to share some ideas concerning the value of respect within the framework of the Tradition of Israel. The ability to respond, or the responsibility to give the other an answer, articulates itself as a basis for respect and acceptance of the other by means of a genuine dialogue, and not by means of the imposition of one’s personal ideas while turning a deaf ear on the ideas of other. The equality envisioned is not the equality of ideas; the desired equality is the equality of possibilities, based on a shared encounter in which we allow ourselves the possibility of learning from difference.
By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

On November 16, the international community observes the International Day of Tolerance. This day and this vision rest on several implicit assumptions that warrant exposition and scrutiny. First among these assumptions is the self-assumed clarity of the notion or value of tolerance itself. The meaning of tolerance, however, like that of other abstract “universal” values, is porous and equivocal. When the use of the term is general and not placed in a concrete social context, its meaning becomes particularly ambiguous and amorphous. Put simply, is tolerance a positive value in every context, at every time, and in every place? Second – assuming that we as educators have defined clearly and concretely the specific types of tolerance we want to teach, are we not then faced with the quintessential issue that inevitably arises in the context of values education: Can values in general actually be taught? In particular, can the value of tolerance actually be taught?

By Marc Silverman

Marian Wright Edelman, a civil rights activist and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, once remarked that, “If we don’t stand up for children, then we don’t stand for much.” While many societies place a great deal of importance of the nurture and development of children, the rights of children are frequently violated in societies and communities that forget some of the essential truth for why protecting children benefit society in the past, present and future. This article will examine how these inherent rights were enshrined in international law, and how Jewish tradition provides a similar worldview for the importance of protecting children’s rights, so that society will not stifle a child’s ability to maximize their own potential, and that humanity will recognize how the world’s betterment and perfection depends, on a great extent, to how much we are willing to ensure children’s rights.

by Rabbi Joshua Rabin

Universal Children’s Day is grounded in Jewish values such as Tedakah, Shalom and Kesher. As early childhood educators, our responsibility to each child is quite serious, since Jewish tradition places significant obligations on parents with regard to their children. Long before the United Nations stepped in to guard children’s rights, the Torah and Talmud had covered the topic. Therefore, we must model, and we must teach parents, the Jewish way to care for children.
by Maxine Segal Handelman

In this article, the author attempts to delve into and interconnect the Jewish traditional texts with that of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Child issued by the United Nations. Light is shed on the right to education, as well as on the challenges posed by filling in the blank spaces left open by the declaration of those rights; on the significant learning that comes of pluralist teaching; on the equality of opportunity that comes with the duty towards growth based on difference; on the role of parents and teachers, given the promise of redemption borne within each child.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

When families stand together each night of Chanukah, and recite the blessings over the candles to be lit each night, many will conclude with the singing of Maoz Tzur, a poem that is more known for its catchy, anthem-like melody, mostly unaware of the poem’s origins and meaning. In reality, Maoz Tzur is a poem that places the Chanukah story in relation to previous moments when the Jewish people were in grave danger, yet saved by God’s powerful hand, and then links those previous redemptions to the current exile of the Jewish people. This article will explore how Maoz Tzur places Chanukah into a chain of Jewish events joined together by exile and redemption, and asking that God come to our aid once again.

by Rabbi Joshua Rabin

Chanukah is a celebration that is explicitly linked to Temple of Jerusalem. Understanding the place the Temple has held in the imagination of the people of Israel throughout its history is therefore an indispensable requirement for knowing just why our sages placed such emphasis on the miracle of the oil of the Menorah. After running through a brief genealogy of the Temple, the author suggests we think about the place the sanctuary occupies in our own lives and discusses different groups that have survived until the present day with their various interpretations.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

The primary mitzvah of Chanukah is the lighting of the menorah, a ritual object meant to publicize the miracle described in the Talmud of a single jar of oil that lit the Temple’s menorah for eight days (BT Shabbat 21a). While the rabbis from the Talmudic era onward agreed that this miracle is related to the primary mitzvah of Talmud, the sages of the Talmud still debated how this central mitzvah ought to be performed, outlined in a famous debate of Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai. This article will outline the debate in the Talmud, explain each position provided, and think about what this debate teaches us about how we construct meaning in our Jewish rituals from the past to the present.

By Joshua Rabin

What do the priest Phinehas, the prophet Elijah, and Mattathias and his Maccabean family have in common? In the following article, the author suggests a link between these three figures and the tug of war between uncontrolled passionate zeal and the value of peace. Looking at these biblical and post-biblical figures, the text proposes that, in the light of certain excerpts from one of the books of Rambam, we think about which side of the scale carries more weight for Jewish law. For, after all, it is at the darkest time of the year that Chanukah challenges our ability to choose figures and attitudes that still illuminate us today with the fire of peace and the fire of love.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

In his text the author embarks on a journey through the Maccabean war, which as remained in the Jewish memory as symbol of heroism, these stories then become a paradigm of the fight against injustice and the arbitrariness of oppression. In the 2nd century AD, the Jewish people led a war of liberation against the Greco-Syrian troops of the Seleucid Empire. After centuries of foreign rule and of dominion by various kingdoms and empires, a small force made up of peasants and shepherds managed to drive out the enemy from their land and restore the government of their own religion in Judea. Myths, legends, miracles and history blend together from this moment of the first successful war of national liberation of the Jewish people. However, independence was not definitive. A short time later, foreign rule returned and this time the loss of political autonomy would last for two thousand years. But the episode of the Maccabean rebellion stuck in the Jewish collective memory as a symbol of heroism and the stories became the paradigm of the struggle against injustice, arbitrariness and oppression.

By Enrique Herszkowich

The Torah is full of miracles. Jewish history in various times found itself surprised by the presence of miracles. Miracles surround us today; it just takes a well attuned eye to see them. The Chanukah story is replete with miracles. There's much debate about which miracle is the true miracle, but ultimately, for young children, finding the true miracle is not the most important quest.Young children are beings of wonder.To a young child, so many things throughout the day are awesome, incredible and even miraculous. Teachers of young children can help foster this sense of wonder and support the discovery of daily miracles that are so present in the spirit of Chanukah and extend beyond the holiday to the rest of the year.

By Maxine Segal Handelman

Chanukah, the festival of light, is also a meeting point with a high concentration of fears and darkness. On the basis of a Talmudic text that places the first man in the darkest time of the year, the author attempts to show how the festivity of Chanukah, invites us to reflect on certain sensitive points—such as G_d’s place in history and the fate of the Chanukah,narrative itself in the times of the Second Temple of Jerusalem—and how it is possible to cast new light on these "eclipses."

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Recalling Umberto Eco’s claim that texts are “lazy machines” requiring a good deal of human work to function productively, what meaningful messages can we derive from these words about Chanukah, our festival of lights? Bearing in mind another incisive remark, made by our sages of the Talmudic era--hafoch ba v’ hafoch ba, ki kula ba (“turn the Torah, and turn it, for all is contained in it”)--in this essay the author will limit his search for such messages to the light(s) Hanukah can shed on Jews’ relationship to political and military power. Using selected traditional and modern interpretations of Hanukah, he will explore the nature and meaning of such power in Jewish historical and present-day understanding.

by Marc Silverman

The author, finding inspiration in the idea of the oxymoron, proposes a tour highlighting some of the contradictions between the Maccabean feat and the way in which the latter has been recuperated over the generations. Heroic deed and violent revolt, preservation of traditions and intolerance of differences, Jewish customs and gentile motives: these are concepts that clash when we study the origins and present condition of this chapter in our identity.

by Rabbi Guido Cohen

Is adding one candle each night of Chanukah the only way to go? Shammai didn't think so. What can we learn from considering the reasons behind the disagreement between Hillel and Shammai over the Chanukah candles, and how can this enlighten the celebration of Chanukah in our classrooms? The author proposes an approach to Talmudic discussion that is understandable and meaningful for small children in which the Talmud’s teachings are transformed into values that can be assimilated into their own daily lives.

by Maxine Segal Handelman

Beginning with one of the most recent resignifications of Chanukah, based on secular Zionist thinking, the author proposes to return us to the primary sources that report on this celebration, with the aim of establishing renewed links and meanings for the present day.
This framework relies on the inclusion of Sukkot in the interpretation, as well as the role of water and fire in both festivals, in order to conclude with the articulation and overcoming of these elements in the Torah.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Discussion on a Universal Declaration of Human Rights necessarily involves the question of and consequent reflection on human nature. Is man good by nature, is he ontologically evil, or are we in truth the product of our culture and circumstances?
Analyzing different Jewish sources, the author seeks to also add some contemporary discoveries in the field of neuroscience to the debate before finally articulating his ideas on the foundations of empathy in our time and what bearing that empathy might have on a pluralist, democratic and inclusive society.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

The terrible experience of the Holocaust cannot be analyzed solely from historical, political or social conceptions. The magnitude and uniqueness of the tragedy (and this in some way constitutes a starting hypothesis) represent a crisis of many concepts and basic values of the cosmic Jewish vision. Should our vision of the world be the same after Auschwitz? Should our concept of man remain the same? Should we interpret the message of our sources in the same way? Is this relevant?

The following article invites us to explore these enigmas.

Anyone teaching about the Shoah faces an endless quantity of historical material of unusual complexity and multidimensionality.
In the difficult task of deciding what to teach, the underlying question is why; a question that highlights the ethical dilemma over the criteria for facing such a selection. Themes such as anti-Semitism, collaborationism, the machinery of death itself, the victims and the victimizers, the bystanders and the resistance, the tzadikei umot haolam and the doors closed to immigration, oblige us to reflect and to try and understand and explain human behavior in moments of extreme violence.

Added to the difficulties mentioned concerning content, it is necessary to find an appropriate methodology that respects the content and also the meaning of the material and to present it in a way that is tolerable, comprehensible, and that awakens the pupils’ sensibilities.

The expert researcher and teacher on the subject of the Holocaust, Yehuda Bauer, reflects on these questions with unrivalled clarity in the following article, originally presented at the conference on “The Holocaust Era Assets: Why teach the Holocaust, what to teach, and how to teach”, which took place in Prague, June 2009.

By Professor Yehuda Bauer.
Published with the kind permission of the author.

In January of 1942, at a meeting known as the Wannsee Conference, in the middle of WWII, the German authorities decided to implement the final solution—in other words, a plan for the deportation en masse of the Jewish population to the east for the purpose of using them as forced labor. It was foreseen that many of them would die from the horrible conditions in which they were to be kept, and it was anticipated that the survivors would need to be “treated accordingly,” i.e. exterminated (see Appendix 6). This was indeed the goal of the final solution: to terminate the Jewish presence in Europe, once and for all. The plan, which consisted of eliminating all the European Jewish populations, included a high degree of state planning and technological innovation, thus constituting one of the process’s most outstanding features: Technological advances and productive rationality would explicitly not be employed to enrich mankind or even to produce goods, but to systematically and rationally plan an entire complex of machinery, personnel, new technologies, transport, civil servants, bureaucratic orders, etc., and set up an efficient chain of production with which to kill the greatest number of people in the most effective and efficient way possible—the goal was in and of itself to murder that part of the population.

By Enrique Herszkowich

"...How we teach the Holocaust-what are its lessons, and are they true to the legacy the survivors want to leave behind?

Below is an examination of what the survivors wanted to accomplish and what they have accomplished. In some areas they succeeded admirably, particularly in the public arena and at the university level. On the other hand, what is happening in secular and Jewish high school classrooms is another story altogether-and depending on who is teaching and how, results will vary. In the best case scenario, the result is character development of a young person into a decent, caring human being. In the worst, Holocaust education becomes a tool that creates disdain for Jewish people, ramps up the Victim Olympics, and creates the opposite of what it was supposed to do-old fashioned antisemitism and self-hatred with a modern twist.

By Jeanette Friedman