NECHAMA GOLDMAN BARASH

Nechama Goldman Barash teaches contemporary Halacha at the Matan Advanced Talmud Institute. She also teaches Talmud at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, as well as courses on sexuality and sanctity in the Jewish tradition. She is the author of Uncovered: Women’s Roles, Mitzvot, and Sexuality in Jewish Law.


 ‘VISION AND Tranquility,’ Eden Wolfgur, from Beit Hillel’s illustrated Grace After Meals booklet ‘For the Good and Gracious Land.’

Remembrance Day, Independence Day: Memory of the past and building the dream of the future

 THE METAPHOR of father and daughter is explored.

Parashat Teruma: Make Me a sanctuary for Me to dwell in

Torah scroll 521

Parashat Vayehi: The blessing of connection


Parashat Toldot and the Akeidah: Finding faith amid suffering - opinion

The pure righteous do not complain of the dark, but increase the light; They do not complain of evil, but increase justice.

 ‘Sacrifice of Isaac,’ painting by Caravaggio, 1603, Uffizi, Florence.

Yom Kippur: Finding hope in times of uncertainty

To embrace, simultaneously, the unknown alongside the knowable has indeed given us the strength and courage to find hope.

 FREED HOSTAGE Sapir Cohen holds up a poster of captive partner Sasha Alexander Trupanov at an Evening of Unity at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women, New York City, Aug. 27.

Ir Nidahat: When a city is disloyal to God and must be destroyed, its people killed

The ethical message emerging from many of these commentaries suggests that while there are times that it is necessary to shed blood, it is likely to leave a negative imprint on the soul. 

 ‘Sodom and Gomorrah Afire’ by Jacob de Wet II, 1680

The red heifer: A statute with a cause - opinion

As a people bound to our Jewish texts, we question and delve into the unknowable to understand our relationship to God and mitzvot more fundamentally.

 The red heifers brought to Israel from Texas.

Searching for truth: Rabbi Akiva and Turnus Rufus in dialogue

We are sent on our individual journeys from the moment we are born, seeking simultaneous distance and closeness with family, community, and God as we make the choices that shape who we are.

 OFTEN, TURNUS Rufus asked clever questions. Pictured: Monumental question mark in Milton Keynes, UK, 1975.

The duality of the Passover Seder

The final Haggadah was a masterpiece of experience that remains a touchstone of Jewish faith, identity, and practice across the world today.

 DISTINGUISHING US from the Greeks: Seder cups, 1790-1810, Jewish Museum of Switzerland.

Parashat Ki Tisa: In the aftermath of sin

The same object – gold donated by the nation – can bring the divine presence to rest among us, or it can lead us to the brink of religious annihilation.

'The adoration of the Golden Calf’ by Nicolas Poussin

Yearning for children lost before their time

All I hear is incredible yearning – for children who have died before their time to be united with their parents; to feel God’s presence; to sense salvation at times of unending darkness

 LOVE FOR God is intertwined with love between parents and children.

Israel-Hamas War: Moments of darkness, despair give way to light, hope

May we end this week and begin the next with the strength to emit positive energy into the darkness through acts of kindness and love.

 A PERSON must actually ‘imprison’ within himself a thought that is all good.

Shabbat and Hanukkah: The power of lighting candles

This week we celebrated Rosh Hodesh Kislev, a month that is a harbinger of Hanukkah, the holiday symbolizing light in the darkness and divine protection against a mighty enemy.

 WE ENTER Kislev with great hopes for a collective miracle.