By Kira Zalan — 2013
The biblical story of Moses resonates strongly today.
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Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Brettler parse opposing interpretations Jews and Christians have of the same Bible, and make the argument that religion doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game
When our ancestors received the Torah, they stood at a mountain. When we celebrate receiving the Torah on Shavuot, we will stand in the pews. They looked at the sky; we will look at the ceiling. They were warmed by the sun; we will be cooled by the air conditioning. I am a rabbi in a synagogue.
To be watched is to feel the expectation of the watcher. The driver is more careful with a police car behind, the high school athlete more adept with the cheerleader on the sideline, every performance heightened once there is an audience. To be seen is to behave differently.
Moses is the most important Jewish prophet. He’s traditionally credited with writing the Torah and with leading the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea. In the book of Exodus, he’s born during a time when the Pharaoh of Egypt has ordered every male Hebrew to be drowned.
Judaism is famously ambiguous about what happens when we die.
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If the idea of a Hebrew priestess seems radical, it may not be for long. Rachel Kann is one of nearly 100 graduates of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute who are seeking to reclaim ancient Jewish forms of female spiritual leadership while pushing the edges of theology and religious practice.
By speaking out against anti-Semitism and lending his brand to institutions like the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Einstein became a standard-bearer for the Diaspora.