As we are in the season of Yom Hashoa, I think of Rembrandt’s superb Large Self-Portrait. It cast a spell on me when I first saw it. But on Yom Hashoa it invites thoughts that penetrate deeper into my very being. When trying to do the impossible—imagining what happened to members of my family and to millions of other Jews who perished in the Holocaust—Rembrandt’s self portrait awakens me from my slumber.
By opening with the story of creation, the Torah teaches that one must have a living relationship with the natural world in order to enter and maintain a living relationship with God. Jewish spirituality flowers and deepens through this relationship and is organically linked to the natural rhythms of the universe. To a great extent, Jewish religious traditions serve to bring us into a sensitive relationship with the natural world.
Book Review
Pesah: Insights from the Past, Present, and Future (The Habura, 2022)
Rabbi Hayyim Angel
Great teachers impact mightily on the development of their students. Great teachers not only impart knowledge but provide the intellectual tools that enable students to learn for themselves and to think for themselves. Rabbi Marc Angel reminisces on some of the most influential teachers in his life.
Why is there such a stark contrast between the way these Sephardic and Ashkenazic chief rabbis speak about Israeli-Arabs and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? I believe that Sephardic piskei halakha should not be viewed in a vacuum: rather, they are reflective of a Sephardic approach to halakha throughout history, and are also influenced by the treatment and role of Sephardim in Israel.
Rabbi Hayyim Angel reviews an important new book by Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn.
The Jewish Press newspaper has a bi-weekly column in which a panel of rabbis is asked to comment on relevant questions. Rabbi Marc D. Angel is one of the respondents and here are his replies to some of the recent questions.
Far from being only a necessary skill for entering the work force or getting into law school, literature that includes the broadest possible range of voices and experiences itself fulfills a Torah value. Without it, we would be hard pressed truly to internalize the basic fact of God’s spark in every human soul.
Book Review
Dennis Prager, The Rational Bible: Exodus (Regnery Faith, 2018)
Rabbi Hayyim Angel
Bridging Traditions will benefit scholars and laypeople alike. It particularly is a must-read for rabbis and Jewish educators, who will appreciate the spiritual wealth we gain and impart to our students and communities by teaching the wholeness of the Jewish people.