• On the Threshold: Thoughts for Parashat Vayera

    We sit at the threshold. We seek the presence of God through prayer and meditation. But our eyes wander outside to our fellow human beings. When we leave the threshold to help others, we aren’t actually leaving God’s…
  • Convivencia Achieved? Jews and Non-Jews in Haifa

    Convivencia is the term often used to describe the coexistence of Jews and Muslims (and Christians) in the so-called Golden Age of Spain. Jews in Haifa have not yet produced figures like Bahya ibn Pakudah, Judah Halevi, or…
  • Incorporating Sephardic Commentary in the Tanakh C…

    The more commentaries educators have in their own arsenal, the more they can fathom Tanakh texts. They also are better equipped to provide more avenues for students to connect to tradition and to respect legitimate diversity…
  • Faith as Protest

    Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks was the Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth.This excerpt is from his book, To Heal the World, and is reprinted by permission of Schocken Books, a division of Random House. This excerpt appeared…

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We sit at the threshold. We seek the presence of God through prayer and meditation. But our eyes wander outside to our fellow human beings. When we leave the threshold to help others, we aren’t actually leaving God’s presence. We are coming closer to Him and His will.
Convivencia is the term often used to describe the coexistence of Jews and Muslims (and Christians) in the so-called Golden Age of Spain. Jews in Haifa have not yet produced figures like Bahya ibn Pakudah, Judah Halevi, or Maimonides, nor have the Arabs of Haifa produced figures like Averroes, but, withal, Jews and Arabs do get along pretty well in Haifa.
The more commentaries educators have in their own arsenal, the more they can fathom Tanakh texts. They also are better equipped to provide more avenues for students to connect to tradition and to respect legitimate diversity within a commitment to Torah.
Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks was the Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth.This excerpt is from his book, To Heal the World, and is reprinted by permission of Schocken Books, a division of Random House. This excerpt appeared in issue 2 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. Rabbi Sacks passed away in November 2020.
The unprecedented pogrom of November 9-10, 1938 in Germany has passed into history as Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). Violent attacks on Jews and Judaism throughout the Reich and in the recently annexed Sudetenland began on November 8 and continued until November 11 in Hannover and the free city of Danzig, which had not then been incorporated into the Reich.
  The core of Jewish liturgy traces back to the early rabbinic period. Over the centuries, Sephardim and Ashkenazim developed different nuances in their prayer liturgies. It is valuable to learn about the differences that emerged, to see how rabbinic interpretations and cultures shaped the religious experiences underlying prayer.