"In the Talmud, we learn of a man who survives being attacked by a lion in the town of Ever Yemina. The man then visits the sage Rava, who advises that whenever the man passes through Ever Yemina, he should say the blessing 'שֶׁעָשָׂה לִי נֵס בַּמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה,' (who made a miracle for ME in THIS place). This blessing may sound familiar to the blessing for the lighting of Chanukah candles, 'שֶׁעָשָׂה נִסִּים לַאֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה,' (who made miracles for our ancestors in those days, at this time)... This Chanukah, I invite us to consider where we, too, have experienced miracles, and what blessings we might share when we return to these places. Chag Chanukah Sameach."

Watch Emmanuel's short teaching...

Hebrew College has left the building! Well, sort of. As the construction team puts the final touches on our new shared- campus home, our faculty, staff, and students have officially begun packing up our materials at the Herrick Road campus. To mark this important transition, on December 20, Hebrew College students, faculty, staff, and alumni will gather to walk our Sifrei Torah the 3.5 miles from their current home to their new home in the Mascott Beit Midrash on our new campus. As of January 3, 2023, we can't wait for you to visit us at our new address—1860 Washington Street, Newton, MA 02466—and to join us on this next step of our journey!

Learn more about our move...

This week, Rav Rachel Adelman offers a poem that she describes as a "modern midrash about Jacob’s gift of the 'ornamented tunic,' aka the 'amazing technicolor dreamcoat' [ketonet passim] to Joseph, his favorite son. Inspired by passages from the midrash Pirqei de-Rabbi Eliezer, I trace Esau’s 'choice (or coveted) clothing' (Gen. 27:15), worn by Jacob when he steals the blessing, back to the skin that the Primordial Serpent sloughed off, which God gave to Adam and Eve.”

Read the poem...

“I spent several years outside of the Jewish world because I thought the kind of spirituality that spoke most to me didn’t exist in Judaism,” said Rabbi Matthew Ponak `20, the author of the upcoming Embodied Kabbalah: Jewish Mysticism for All People. “When I first encountered the uncommon texts featured in my new book, it felt like coming home: I uncovered a Jewish language of embodied spirituality that had been there all along!”

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