Bereshit Archives | Academy for Jewish Religion

3 01, 2023

Parashat Veyehi 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:10:26-04:00January 3, 2023|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

Wrestling With Our Names: Lessons from Jacob/Israel
A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayehi
By Rabbi Rena Kieval (’06)

Each of us has a name
given by God
and given by our parents
Each of us has a name
given by our stature and our smile
and given by what we wear

Each of us has a name
given by the mountains
and given by our walls

Each of us has a name
given by the stars
and given by our neighbors

Each of us has a name
given by our sins
and given by our longing

Each of us has a name
given by our enemies
and given by our love

Each of us has a name
given by our celebrations
and given by our work

Each of us has a name
given by the seasons
and given by our blindness

Each of us has a name
given by the sea
and given by
our death.

27 12, 2022

Parashat Vayigash 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:10:35-04:00December 27, 2022|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

Anti-Shemitism: The Power of Names to Turn Us Into an Abomination
A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayigash
By Rabbi Mitchell Blank (’21)

In a recent notorious SNL monologue, Dave Chappelle proclaims: “There are two words in the English language you should never say together, in sequence, and those words are “the” and “Jews”.” As per Chappelle, this would violate the “show business rules of perception: If they’re Black it’s a gang, if they’re Italian, it’s a mob but if they’re Jewish; it’s a coincidence and you should never speak about it.” Each group receives its own racial or ethnic epithet. As for the Jews, they control Hollywood. In Chappelle’s opinion, Jewish control is so pervasive that even naming “the Jews” will unleash a severe backlash against anyone who tries. Jews are uniquely noxious in that epithets are insufficient to dirty our name. In addition, Jews are allegedly so Read More >

19 12, 2022

Parashat Mikeitz 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:10:43-04:00December 19, 2022|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Mikeitz
By Rabbi Ira Dounn (’17)

How is the arc of your own story bending right now?

I think about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quote “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice” often, particularly when a desired outcome hasn’t yet been achieved. MLK is reminding us to have hope despite the slow pace at which it seems progress sometimes occurs.

To this point, Joseph has had a tough life. Although originally the favorite child, Joseph’s brothers act on their intense jealousy, throw him into the pit, and sell him into slavery. His position as a slave in Egypt is initially comfortable and successful, all things considered, since “G-d was with Joseph” (Gen. 39:2). But after he is falsely accused of sexually assaulting Potiphar’s wife, back down into “the pit” he goes and he is thrown Read More >

12 12, 2022

Parashat Vayeishev 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:10:54-04:00December 12, 2022|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayeishev
By Rabbi Greg Schindler (’09)

Dedicated to the memory of my dear wife Barucha Esther bat Daniel v’Rachel (z”l)

Dream On

Dream on/ Dream on / Dream on
Dream until your dreams come true
– Steven Tyler (Aerosmith)

Did you ever have a dream that came true?

The Talmud tells us that a dream is one-sixtieth of prophecy. (Berakhot 57b) But the trouble with dreams is, they require interpretation.

Rav Hisda said, “A dream not interpreted is like a letter not read.” (Berakhot 55a) Dream interpretation is made especially difficult by the “red herrings” in dreams: “Just as it is impossible for the grain to grow without straw, so it is impossible to dream without idle matters.” (ibid.)

Moreover, the Sages claim that the actualization of a dream depends on its interpretation: “Rabbi Bena’a Read More >

5 12, 2022

Parashat Vayishlah 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:11:04-04:00December 5, 2022|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

My Parasha
A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayishlah
By Rabbi Andrew Hechtman (’03)

On most any Shabbat the world over, b’nei mitzvah children rise before their community and state an affirmative obligation to maintain Jewish identity and live a Jewish future. Most often, they deliver a D’var Torah (teaching) beginning with the words… “My Parasha is ____”. We encourage our children to take ownership of their Torah. As Jews, only knowing the “facts” about Judaism is “livatala”, meaningless, unless accompanied by an evolving Jewish identity.

The concept of differentiation of self is at the core of Bowen Family Systems Theory. Differentiation addresses how individuals differ from each other in terms of their sensitivity to one another and their varying abilities to maintain and preserve a degree of autonomy in the face of other social pressures. The struggle for balance and harmony in our lives is at the Read More >

28 11, 2022

Parashat Vayeitzei 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:11:12-04:00November 28, 2022|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayeitzei
By Rabbi Steven Altarescu (’14)

We are often running from place to place, from errand to errand, doing our best, tripping up, falling down and getting up and running some more. We face challenges and sometimes we face them with wisdom and sometimes we fail at them. Life can feel like moving on a line, horizontally.

In the last number of years, through the last few election cycles and through the pandemic, we can feel we are running for our lives. Motivated by saving democracy and freedom, and to keep ourselves and our loved ones healthy, while still trying to function in the world. We do not know what is next, both from a political perspective and from a medical perspective, and yet we keep moving. I believe it is very easy to get entangled in our daily lives and lose hope and a Read More >

21 11, 2022

Parashat Toledot 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:07:00-04:00November 21, 2022|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Toledot
By Cantor Robin Anne Joseph (’96)

“Still waters run deep.”

Coined several centuries before Shakespeare’s take-off in Henry VI, Part 2—Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep—this idiom seems to date back to the Latin: Altissima quaeque flumina minimo sono labi—The deepest rivers flow with the smallest sound.

That’s our Isaac—our ancestor with the least to say, but perhaps with the most bubbling underneath the surface. Maybe that’s why, in this week’s Torah portion, Toledot, Isaac is busy digging wells. Let’s unearth this situation together…

What’s bothering Isaac?

A question usually reserved for dissecting a Rashi teaching, I think we could ask the same of Isaac. What is bothering this poor soul to lead him to this seemingly compulsive action of digging not one, not two, but five wells in fairly quick succession? What is going on with all this digging? From my Read More >

14 11, 2022

Parashat Hayei Sarah 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-05-03T12:06:51-04:00November 14, 2022|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Hayei Sarah
By Rabbi Katy Allen (’05)

Hayei Sarah –
the life of Sarah
tells of her death.
Abraham is old,
nearing his death as well,
and he says to his servant,
I will make you swear—
I, Abraham, will make you,
another human being,
swear an oath unto G!d.
On my deathbed,
I will make you promise.

What right have we
to force someone else
to promise something
in the name of G!d?
Can it really be valid?
Can it really be sound to its core?

And, it’s about finding a wife
for his son, Isaac.
Swear, Abraham says to his servant,
swear in the name of all that is sacred and holy,
that you won’t take a wife for my son
from among these Canaanites,
but that you will go back
to the land of my birth
and find him a wife there.
AND DON’T ON ANY ACCOUNT
TAKE ISAAC WITH YOU!

Why is this command,
with such vehemence,
needed at all?
After all, we are taught Read More >

7 11, 2022

Parashat Vayeira 5783

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T15:04:46-05:00November 7, 2022|

How Do you Make a Well or a Ram Disappear? By Rabbi Rob Scheinberg Twenty years ago, two experimental psychologists at Harvard, named Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, created what has become one of the most famous experiments in the behavioral sciences. The participants in this study were given a simple task. They just had to watch a brief video that included several people passing basketballs back and forth to each other. Three of these players were wearing white shirts, and three were wearing black shirts. The task was simple: watch the ball that was being passed among the players with the white shirts, and count how many times the basketball was passed. This is not difficult – most people came up with the right number.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

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