Archive for September, 2008
NiSh’ma – Sin and Sacrifice
Featured Artists: Ruth Weisberg, Archie Rand, Joan Linder, and Eugene Yelchin
Sin and New Beginnings: R. Nachman of Breslov
Eliezer Shore
Sin increases the empty space in our lives that allows for the creation of something new…a hidden treasure.
Sin as Corrective: Rabbi Abraham Isaac ha-Kohen Kook
Shaul Magid
Our response to sin should not be enclosure but expansion. Secular culture is not a temptress, nor is our participation in it a concession.
Roundtable: Thinking about Sin
A Round-Table: Sh’ma asked a number of rabbis to consider how they teach about sin, and what role it plays in the spiritual lives of their students and congregants. We explored whether sin is a useful category, or if it simply engenders guilt; the relationship between sinning and repentance; and the impact of Christian thought on Jewish attitudes toward sin.
Homelessness
Aryeh Cohen
At the most intense moment of the Jewish liturgical year — Yom Kippur/the Day of Atonement — the tradition dictates that the portion we read from the Prophets, the haftorah, is one that challenges the very practice embodied in that holy fast day.
Discussion Guide – Sin and Sacrifice
Is sin a religiously helpful category or does it simply engender too much guilt?
What is the relationship between sin and repentance?
What are some of the most egregious Jewish sins today?
Has sin become a “Christian” concept — and does that create a barrier to Jewish thinking about such behavior?
