We begin the story of the Exodus of the Jewish people from slavery to freedom not with a tale of heroism and miracles, but with a list of names. “V’eleh shemot b’nai Yisrael. These are the names of ...

Explore the depth of Torah commentary through the lens of Sarah's life and Abraham's profound acts of love and responsibility ...

I attended a memorial for a beloved colleague recently, and his widow remembered how at funerals he would invite people not to look at the birth and death dates on memorial plaques and grave markers, ...

In an effort to show up to synagogue more knowledgeable about the weekly Torah portion – and be prepared to offer a few words of Torah on short notice if asked by my lunch hosts – I picked up Yiscah ...

This week’s Torah portion, Shemot, begins with a list of those who made their way down to Egypt from Canaan. While the Torah goes into detail about their dramatic stories back home, we know very ...

The story of every nation is the story of its leaders — and how they leave, writes the author of the forthcoming “The Torah of Leadership.” We often invoke the Hebrew phrase “l’dor v’dor,” from ...

(RNS) — The Jewish attitude toward foreign-born people, who often have risked their lives to come here, legally or otherwise, is one of mercy and concern. (RNS) — No one knows who wrote the Jewish ...

Every Shabbos, Jews in synagogues of all denominations hear the cantor, rabbi or a layperson chant that week’s Torah portion from an open scroll. But Yiddish scholar Sheva Zucker says you don’t need ...

This is an adaptation of Looking Forward, a weekly email from our editor-in-chief sent on Friday afternoons. Sign up here to get the Forward’s free newsletters delivered to your inbox. I was thrilled ...