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Reclaim the message of the prophets for today with the weekly Haftarah portion narrated in English by renowned actor Ronald Guttman.
Episodes & Posts
Episodes
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9 OCT 2017 · What do the prophets of the Bible have to say to us today? Rabbi Jan Uhrbach, Director of the Block / Kolker Center for Spiritual Arts at JTS introduces The Voice of the Prophet.
17 OCT 2017 · The Haftarah portion for Shabbat Rosh Hodesh (Isaiah 66:1-24) narrated in English by Ronald Guttman.
Questions for Discussion:
God is seen here rejecting the worship of the outwardly pious, who pride themselves in building religious institutions, but fail to care for human beings. Instead, God attends to those who are poor and brokenhearted, but attend to the substance of God’s word.
• Where in our own personal practice – or in our communities and organizations – do we emphasize show over substance, buildings over people, ritual over ethics?
• How can we do better in this new month?
JTS wishes to acknowledge the generosity of the Jewish Publication Society for allowing us to use their translation.
7 JAN 2018 · The Haftarah portion for Shabbat Vayehi (1 Kings. 2:1-12) narrated in English by Ronald Guttman.
Questions for Discussion:
The haftarah records King David’s deathbed instructions to his son Solomon, including some unfinished business.
• What values and lessons do you want to pass on to your own children or to the next generation?
• What obligations do you feel regarding your parents’ unfinished business, and the unfinished business of previous generations?
• What do you want to remain faithful to? What do you need to let go?
JTS wishes to acknowledge the generosity of the Jewish Publication Society for allowing us to use their translation.
6 SEP 2018 · The Haftarah portion for Rosh Hashanah Day One (1 Samuel 1:1-2:10) narrated in English by Ronald Guttman.
Questions for Discussion:
In the haftarah chosen for the first day of the Jewish New Year, a vulnerable woman, Hannah, is judged harshly and incorrectly by the priest in charge, but proves herself to be genuinely pious, perhaps more so than he.
• Why do you think this haftarah is read on the New Year?
• What lessons does it offer regarding judgment, power, piety and generosity of spirit?
JTS wishes to acknowledge the generosity of the Jewish Publication Society for allowing us to use their translation.
6 SEP 2018 · The Haftarah portion for Rosh Hashanah Day Two (Jeremiah 31:2-20) narrated in English by Ronald Guttman.
Questions for Discussion:
The haftarah chanted on the second day of Rosh Hashanah offers God’s beautiful promise of joy, love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. It also portrays two powerful human emotions, each seemingly resistant to the Divine message: Rachel’s grief, and Ephraim’s remorse and shame.
• Are there losses you are struggling to come to terms with?
• Do you carry shame that is hard to overcome, or guilt you have difficulty forgiving?
• What spiritual work between now and Yom Kippur might enable that day to help you move forward?
JTS wishes to acknowledge the generosity of the Jewish Publication Society for allowing us to use their translation.
13 SEP 2018 · The Haftarah portion for Yom Kippur morning (Isaiah 57:14 - 58:14) narrated in English by Ronald Guttman.
Questions for Discussion:
Yom Kippur is filled with ritual observance, from the fast and other restrictions to a full day of praying. The haftarah doesn’t the importance of such observance, but reminds us that ritual alone does not a religious person make, and that our fast will not be meaningful unless it is accompanied by deeds of justice and love. Ideally, ritual and ethical observance are mutually reinforcing.
• What concrete actions will you take going forward, to insure that your fast on Yom Kippur will be expressed in your deeds outside the synagogue?
JTS wishes to acknowledge the generosity of the Jewish Publication Society for allowing us to use their translation.
20 SEP 2018 · The Haftarah portion for Sukkot Day 2 (1 Kings 8:2-21) narrated in English by Ronald Guttman.
Questions for Discussion:
On the second day of Sukkot, we read of the completion of Solomon’s Temple, and the presence of God coming to rest. As we ourselves dwell in newly built, temporary structures, we might ask: what makes something a dwelling place for God.
• Is it the physical building, the intention in building it, the activities carried out in it?
• What drives God’s presence from the world?
JTS wishes to acknowledge the generosity of the Jewish Publication Society for allowing us to use their translation.
20 SEP 2018 · The Haftarah portion for Sukkot Day 1 (Zechariah 14:1-21) narrated in English by Ronald Guttman.
Questions for Discussion:
Zechariah’s beautiful vision of the day when “Adonai shall be one and God’s name one” seems to be in tension with the Shema, our twice-daily assertion that God is one.
• In what sense is God’s unity an ever-present reality, and in what sense is it aspirational? Can both be true?
• What causes you to see or experience God’s unity, and what causes you to lose that vision?
JTS wishes to acknowledge the generosity of the Jewish Publication Society for allowing us to use their translation.
26 NOV 2018 · The Haftarah portion for Shabbat Vayeshev (Amos 2:6-3:8) narrated in English by Ronald Guttman.
Questions for Discussion:
Amos laments the people’s ordering the prophets not to prophesy. If Amos were speaking in our streets today, would we hear him or refuse to listen? Would we try to shut him up? While Jewish tradition maintains that the age of prophesy is over, nevertheless the prophets continue to speak through our textual tradition, and in the voices of individuals who are especially ethically and spiritually sensitive.
• Whose voices in today’s discourse are truest to the prophetic tradition?
• Are we amplifying those voices and taking them to heart? Refusing to listen? Or actively trying to silence them?
JTS wishes to acknowledge the generosity of the Jewish Publication Society for allowing us to use their translation.
8 DEC 2018 · The Haftarah portion for Shabbat Hanukkah ( Zech. 2:14–4:7 ) narrated in English by Ronald Guttman.
Questions for Discussion:
The haftarah for Chanukah reminds us that physical strength and power are very limited tools when compared to the Divine spirit.
• What do you see in our world that is more potent that physical strength and worldly power?
• Might those things be what we mean by God’s spirit?
JTS wishes to acknowledge the generosity of the Jewish Publication Society for allowing us to use their translation.
Reclaim the message of the prophets for today with the weekly Haftarah portion narrated in English by renowned actor Ronald Guttman.
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