fbpx

GET HOME DELIVERY! CLICK HERE »

ADVERTISE
pick up locations
HOME DELIVERY
donate

Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

September 13, 2015

Rosner’s Torah-Talk: Rosh Hashanah with Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein

Leave a Comment / Israel, Rosner's Domain, Rosner's Video, Rosners Domain-mobile, Videos, Worldwide /

Our special guest today is Rabbi Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein, founder and Director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute. Rabbi Goshen-Gottstein has held academic posts at Tel Aviv University and has served as director of the Center for the Study of Rabbinic Thought, Beit Morasha College, Jerusalem. Ordained a rabbi in 1977, he received his Ph.D. from Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1986 in the area of Rabbinic thought. From 1989 to 1999, he was a member of the Shalom Hartman Institute for Advanced Studies, Jerusalem, where he also served as director for interreligious affairs. Stanford University Press published his The Sinner and the Amnesiac: The Rabbinic Invention of Elisha ben Abuya and Eleazar ben Arach in 2000, and the Littman Library published his co-edited volume Jewish Theology and World Religions. Several other collective research projects and edited volumes complement more than fifty articles, published in such scholarly journals as Harvard Theological Review, Journal for the Study of Judaism, Journal of Literature and Theology, Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Ecumenism, and Studies in Interreligious Dialogue.

Our discussion focuses on the special role of humility in the core of the Amidah section of the Rosh Hashanah service, specifically in the following verses:

Now, therefore, O Lord our God, impose thine awe upon all thy works, and thy dread upon all that thou hast created, that all works may fear thee and all creatures prostrate themselves before thee, that they may all form a single band to do thy will with a perfect heart, even as we know, O Lord our God, that dominion is thine, strength is in thy hand, and might in thy right hand, and that thy name is to be feared above all that thou hast created.

Give then glory, O Lord, unto thy people, praise to them that fear thee, hope to them that seek thee, and free speech to them that wait for thee, joy to thy land, gladness to thy city, a flourishing horn unto David thy servant, and a clear shining light unto the son of Jesse, thine anointed, speedily in our days.

Rosner’s Torah-Talk: Rosh Hashanah with Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein Read More »

Overcoming Despair and Beginning Again

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Culture, Is Featured?, Mobile-Homepage, News /

The central theme of these High Holidays is teshuvah, a process that brings us back to ourselves, to our families and friends, to our community, Torah, and God. Teshuvah is ultimately an expression of hope, that the way we are today need not be who we become tomorrow.

Teshuvah is essentially a step-by-step process of turning and re-engaging with our most basic inclinations, the yetzer hara-the evil urge that is propelled by desire, lust and need and our yetzer tov-the good inclination that is inspired by humility, gratitude, generosity, and kindness.

A key beginning in the process that is teshuvah is, however, a sense of despair, hopelessness and sadness, the feeling that we are stuck and cannot change the nature, character and direction of our lives.

Judaism, however, rejects pessimism, cynicism and everything that impedes personal transformation and a hopeful future.

In the story of Jonah, to be read on the afternoon of Yom Kippur, we read the tale of the prophet’s descent into hopelessness and what is required for him to change direction.

Jonah is the epitome of a unrealized prophet who runs from himself, from civilization and from God. Every verb associated with his journey is the language of descent (yod-resh-daled). He flees down to the sea. He boards a ship and goes down into its dark interior. He lays down and falls into a deep sleep. He is thrown overboard down into the waters by his terrified ship-mates. He is swallowed and descends into the belly of a great fish, and there he stays for three days and nights until from that place of despair and utter darkness Jonah decides that he wishes to live and not die. He cries out to God to save him.

God responds by making the fish vomit Jonah out onto dry land. Jonah agrees this time to do God’s bidding and preach to the Ninevites to repent from their evil ways. While the town’s people are all putting on sack cloth and ashes and promising to change, God provides Jonah with shade and protection from the hot sun. Jonah, however, becomes mortified because he still believes that change is impossible and that the Ninevites are destined to fail. Their success, in his mind, makes him to appear the fool.

Teshuvah is never easy. It is for those of us who are strong of mind, heart and soul, who are willing to work hard and suffer failure, but to get up every time, to own what we do, to acknowledge our wrong-doing, to apologize to ourselves and others, and to recommit to the struggle, step-by-step, patiently, one day at a time, one hour at a time, and even one moment at a time.

When successful, teshuvah is restorative and even utopian, for it enables us to return to our truest selves, to the place of soul, to the garden of oneness.

Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik taught that in teshuvah we are able even to transcend time itself. He said, “The future has overcome the past.”

L’shanah tovah u-m’tukah.

A good and sweet New Year to you all.

Overcoming Despair and Beginning Again Read More »

Destination Relaxation in Desert Springs

Leave a Comment / Travel /

The


 

Jun 6, 2015 at 9:13am PDT

 

 

 

PBI Tennis Lessons

After you are fed and rested, turn things up a notch! Try a PBI tennis lesson one of the JW Marriot's tennis instructors! Whether you are a casual tennis player or have never held a racket, you'll surely learn a thing or two from these seasoned pros. 

 

 

Destination Relaxation in Desert Springs Read More »

My Favorite Part

Leave a Comment / Israel, Israel, Middle East, Rosner's Domain, Rosners Domain-mobile, United States, Worldwide /

In my home, there’s one refrain I often hear. Whenever I turn off the television while my son is watching, he invariably says, “No, Mom, this is my favorite part.” I must have an uncanny talent – of knowing exactly what his favorite segment is of every program because no matter when I turn off the television, it’s his favorite part.

I thought of this refrain recently. This past week, my kids returned to school, and they were very upset that summer was over.  It’s as though they’re crying out, “Don’t stop summer. It’s our favorite part of the year.” I share their sentiment. As beach and water park outings give way to homework and routine, how can we not be heavy-hearted?

I feel similarly about the coming of fall as about the passage of years. As my kids grow, they shed their past passions and adopt new ones which leaves me missing the prior stages. My son started middle school this week; I remember fondly when he was in preschool and madly in love with his big Elmo doll. I remember when my daughter screamed, “Stop the Car” when she saw a Hello Kitty store – but now she considers Hello Kitty babyish. In my heart, I feel like screaming: “Don’t stop loving Elmo; that was my favorite part!”

As we approach the new school year, the people in this past week’s Torah portion are also facing a big transition. After forty years in the desert, they are about to enter the Promised Land. In anticipation, Moses summoned all the people together to reaffirm their covenant with God.

When the people were assembled, Moses said:

You stand today, all of you before God – your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officials, all the men of Israel, your children, your wives, and your stranger who is in your camp, from the woodchopper to the water drawer to enter the covenant of the Lord, your God, and into God’s oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today –that God may establish you today for God as a people, and be your God, as God promised you and swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

In this passage, two words strike me. The first is the Hebrew word kulchem, which means “all of you.” This word emphasizes that the entire community gathered before God, yet this idea can also apply to each person. To truly enter the covenant, “all of you” needs to be present – mind, body, heart and soul. The other phrase is “today.” In this one paragraph, the word “today” repeats three times. Together, these words challenge us to be fully present each day.

This verse’s emphasis on “today” hints at an imperative to let go of yesterday. In her new book, Thresholds, Rabbi Sherre Hirsch includes this quote of unknown origin: “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one.”

Indeed, nostalgia for the past can mar the enjoyment of the present. If I dwell on the sadness that my kids are not small anymore, I might overlook the joys of their developing new skills. If we long too much for summer, we may miss whatever joy can be found this fall.

How fitting then that this Torah portion is the last one that is read before Rosh Hashanah. This verse strikes me as both a goal and a prayer. In this coming year, may we stand, all of us, in each day. Rather than pining for the past, may we embrace the present – and hopefully find some new favorite parts along the way.

My Favorite Part Read More »