Divrei Torah Archives | Page 38 of 78 | Academy for Jewish Religion

23 12, 2014

Parashat Vayigash

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2014-12-23T22:16:12-05:00December 23, 2014|

Parashat Vayigash
by Rabbi Isaac Mann

This week’s Torah portion Vayigash begins with a dramatic confrontation between Joseph, Pharaoh’s viceroy, and Judah over the fate of Benjamin, in whose sack was discovered Joseph’s silver goblet. The Egyptian leader insisted, as we learn from last week’s parashah, that the “thief” Benjamin remain a slave in Egypt while Judah offered to remain in his stead and allow Benjamin to return to his elderly father.

In his plea to the Egyptian ruler, not knowing of course that he was their long-lost brother Joseph, Judah recounts their previous conversations as well as those that took place with their father over the issue of bringing Benjamin down to Egypt. The entire tone of Judah’s monologue is very plaintive, pleading with the ruler in almost a begging manner to show mercy and compassion for a bereft father. Judah was the supplicant entreating the all-powerful lord.

While this appears to be the plain Read More >

23 12, 2014

Parashat Mikeitz

By ahsilver|2014-12-23T22:13:46-05:00December 23, 2014|

Seven Years of Famine
by Hazzan Marcia Lane

And Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same: God has told Pharaoh what He is about to do. The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years it is the same dream. The seven lean and ugly cows that followed are seven years, as are also the seven empty ears scorched by the cast wind; they are seven years of famine. It is just as I have told Pharaoh: God has revealed to Pharaoh what He is about to do. Immediately ahead are seven years of great abundance in all the land of Egypt. After them will come seven years of famine, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. As the land is ravaged by famine, no trace of the abundance will be left in the land because of the famine Read More >

10 12, 2014

Parashat Vayeishev

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2014-12-10T12:41:46-05:00December 10, 2014|

Cantor Sandy Horowitz

“Trouble, trouble, trouble trouble…trouble been doggin’ my soul since the day I was born…”
Ray Lamontagne

At the beginning of Parashat Vayeishev we read that Jacob settled in the land of his fathers. Right away however, things become quite unsettled: “Joseph brought bad reports about [his brothers] to his father” (Gen 37:2). Jacob’s youngest son is a seventeen-year-old tattle-tale.

When we read the brothers’ perspective on the situation two verses later, we see that Joseph’s actions actually aren’t the primary reason for their hatred: “His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, so they hated him” (Gen 37:4). Jacob’s blatant displays of favoritism are at the root of the problem.

Jacob’s favoritism goes back to Parashat Vayishlah, when he encountered his estranged brother Esau. As Esau advanced towards him with four hundred men, “He placed the maidservants and their children first and Leah and her children Read More >

3 12, 2014

Parashat Vayishlah

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2014-12-03T12:57:54-05:00December 3, 2014|

The Meaning of Aloneness
by Rabbi Jill Hammer

“Jacob went out from Beersheva, and went toward Haran.” (Gen. 28:10)

“With my staff alone I crossed this Jordan.” (Gen. 32:11)

“Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him till dawn.” (Gen. 32:25)

“Dinah, the daughter Leah bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the land, saw her, took her, and raped her.” (Gen. 34:1)

There’s a hill I like to visit in Central Park. A wild meadow surrounded by five great trees, it’s often filled with head-high sumac and milkweed, or, if the Parks Department mows it, with marshy grass underfoot. Years ago, it had a mysterious dead tree at its center. Over the course of years, a vine wrapped around the tree, and when the tree finally fell, the vine took its Read More >

3 12, 2014

Parashat Vayeitzei

By Rabbi Len Levin|2014-12-03T11:59:55-05:00December 3, 2014|

Rabbi Len Levin

“Indeed, God is in this place!”

This week, the Torah tells of the first of two climactic encounters that the Patriarch Jacob experienced, both of them occurring at transitional points of his outward career and inner growth. This week we read of Jacob’s dream of a ladder reaching from earth to heaven. The place — Beth El (House of God) — later became (not coincidentally) one of the major cultic centers of the Israelite kingdom.

The rabbis were so impressed by the image of the ladder connecting earth and heaven that in a rather creative interpretation they conflated Jerusalem and Beth El, understanding them to represent one central connecting point, the umbilicus or navel of the earth, the point from which the creation of the world proceeded. They declared the location of the Jerusalem temple to be Even Shetiyah, the Foundation Stone, for on it the world was founded. This idea was Read More >

3 12, 2014

Parashat Toldot

By ahsilver|2014-12-03T11:56:12-05:00December 3, 2014|

Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

The negative attitude towards Esau in rabbinic literature is familiar to many and exemplified by the midrash that states “It is a well known teaching [halakhah] that Esau hates Jacob.” (Sifre on Deuteronomy, Beha’alotkha 69) These midrashim were not talking just about Jacob and Esau, these two figures were, in the words of Gerson D. Cohen, “archetypal symbols of Jewry and Rome.” (found in Gerson D. Cohen, “Esau as Symbol in Early Medieval Thought”)

Did the Rabbis have anything positive to say about Esau? As a matter of fact, they did. The following midrashim show that the rabbis were able to find something good even in somebody who was described so negatively such as Esau. We are challenged to look beyond the negativity in order to find the positive in everyone.

“And Rebecca took the choicest garments of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house” (27:15)-In which Read More >

12 11, 2014

Parashat Hayyei Sarah

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2014-11-12T14:32:23-05:00November 12, 2014|

“Where is Eliezer?”
by Rabbi Isaac Mann

This week’s Torah portion elaborates on two life-cycle events involving Abraham and his family — the death/burial of his wife Sarah and the betrothal/marriage of his son Isaac. There are some interesting similarities between them, most notably that both contain dialogues or speeches that seem either redundant or unnecessarily detailed or possibly both.

The first part of the sidra (Sabbath Torah portion) details Abraham’s quest for a burial place for Sarah and his verbal exchange with Ephron, who possessed the portion of land that the patriarch wanted to purchase as a burial plot. The second and longer part of Hayyei Sarah deals with the mission that Abraham assigns to his servant to find a wife for Isaac and how that mission is carried out. The latter can be divided into two sections. The first is the narrative itself, wherein we have Abraham’s assignment to the servant, the latter’s prayer Read More >

5 11, 2014

Parashat Vayeirah

By ahsilver|2014-11-05T12:49:13-05:00November 5, 2014|

Vayeirah
Hazzan Marcia Lane

Let me just say, straight off, that choosing one or other episode from this week’s parashah, like all the parshiyot of the book of Genesis, is a tricky proposition. Shall I address the story of Abraham and Sarah and their angelic visitors, but ignore the Akedah, the binding of Isaac? For synagogues that follow the triennial reading of the Torah, the big event this week will be the destruction of Sodom and Gemorrah, but we will also read about the king of Gerar, Avimelech, and how he took Sarah into his household, thinking that she was Abraham’s sister. The banishment of Hagar and Ishmael? You can see the problem here; the Torah portion is simply too good. Too packed with juicy stories. But there is a thread that connects these episodes. Our Torah portion introduces two important and inter-connected mitzvot (commandments): bikkur holim (visiting the sick) and hakhnasat Read More >

5 11, 2014

Parashat Lekh-Lekha

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2014-11-05T12:13:37-05:00November 5, 2014|

Lekh-Lekha
Cantor Sandy Horowitz

Journeys are complicated. Fraught with the unexpected, they can bring out one’s best and worst qualities. But the beginning — the moment of outset — can be a moment of perfection and purity. Consider the newborn, or a decision to embark on a new career, or those first steps of a backpacking trip.

Such a moment opens this week’s Torah portion.

“And God said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.'”….”Vayelekh Avram” – “and Abram went forth” (Genesis 12:1-2, 4).

If there was hesitation, we don’t read about it. If Sarai gave him a hard time about leaving, that was kept between the two of them. Without regard to what came before Read More >

5 11, 2014

Parashat Noah

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2014-11-05T12:06:52-05:00November 5, 2014|

Parashat Noah: Balancing Two Promises
Rabbi Jill Hammer

In Parashat Noah, God commands Noah to build an ark so that his descendants may survive the flood that God is bringing upon the earth. Noah’s role, according to the biblical text, is as a partner in covenant with God: “I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall enter the ark…” Some midrashim emphasize a second aspect of Noah’s role: as a caretaker of animal diversity. In Genesis Rabbah 19:5, Noah runs from animal to animal to provide each one with the food it needs, to the extent that Noah does not sleep the entire time he is on the ark. The phoenix is so distressed at Noah’s hard work that it does not ask for anything to eat (and is rewarded with eternal life for its empathy).

Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, the rabbi and author, adds beautifully to this midrashic thread. In her book Noah’s Read More >

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

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

Programs of Study

Learn more about…

Programs of Study

Learn more about…

Divrei Torah

ABOUT

LIBRARY

JOIN US

PROGRAMS OF STUDY