Rabbi Unterman is the rabbi of Young Israel of East Brunswick in East Brunswick, NJ. In Ruth – From Alienation to Monarchy (Maggid Books, 2015), Dr. Yael Zeigler highlights the centrality of namefulness and namelessness in the book of Ruth. Among other examples she...
The Torah portion of Kedoshim gathers together all those people in our surroundings who would seem to be “transparent” and gives us a specific commandment about each one. We must not put a stumbling block in front of a blind person or curse a deaf person, we must set...
“Observe My decrees and My laws, which man will perform so that he will live by them” [Vayikra 18:5]. “Be holy, for I am holy” [Vayikra 19:2]. The ability of man, a physical creature, to reach for and to create holiness is not obvious. A number of commentators have...
They are buried in a long line that is not very straight. These people were killed by artillery fire in Jerusalem in 5708. This week I passed by the graves on Har Hamenuchot, in Jerusalem, and I tried to imagine their funerals. At the time, Jerusalem was under siege...
