When the brothers overcame jealousy in relation to Benjamin, they also overcame it in relation to Joseph. It no longer mattered to them if Joseph was more powerful or more beloved. What mattered was doing their best to live up to their own potentials. When people overcome jealousy, they can be rid of a life-sapping burden. They can be free.

Teaching the History of Jewish Life in Europe Pre Kristallnacht to young adolescents asks us to question our motivations, objectives and focus. The study and experience of history occurs in informal  and formal ways. With good teachers, students can develop and connect their understandings and experiences to what is presented.

Rabbi Hayyim Angel continues to offer educational opportunities that are available to members of our Institute.

Although the medieval recasting of Hanukkah as a celebration of the victories of the Maccabees is important, the core of the talmudic observance celebrates the Sages' stand against assimilation and religious zealotry.

THE INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH IDEAS AND IDEALS NEEDS YOU! Thank you for your support and encouragement. You have helped the Institute in its work to foster an intellectually vibrant, compassionate and inclusive Orthodox Judaism. Please support our End of Year Campaign.

We tend to think of our religious commitments as being built on a concrete foundation. Every perceived crack raises a fear that the entire edifice might collapse. But we can view our commitments as a boat, held aloft by the surging waters of a river that are continually rising and falling, but always, in aggregate, carrying the boat forward, downstream toward the sea.