Parashat Toledot – 5785
Linda Ripps2024-11-25T11:04:08-05:00How does it feel to be unfavored?
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11, 2024
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11, 2024
D’var Torah Hayei Sarah – 5785
Linda Ripps2024-11-18T14:36:15-05:00Recently I was thinking a good deal about the fact that with so much going on in Israel, around the world and even here, in the United States, we forget to talk about LOVE. Unfortunately, we constantly worry - no wonder we are called the “anxious generation.”
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11, 2024
Parashat Vayeira 5785
Linda Ripps2024-11-12T11:52:56-05:00As Abraham reached the final stage of implementing God’s request — ready to make the ultimate sacrifice of his own son — he suddenly saw a ram caught in the bushes. At the angel’s direction, he lifted the ram and placed it on the altar in place of Isaac, offering it as the sacrifice. For Abraham, this resolved the “test” and maintained the life of his son. But what of the ram, the being that had no choice but to be sacrificed? Besides serving as a substitute for Isaac, what meaning can we derive by looking at the Akeidah from the ram’s perspective?
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11, 2024
Parashat Lekh Lekha 5785
Linda Ripps2024-11-04T11:43:42-05:00It’s very different today. Churches, mosques and synagogues dot the landscape of many cities and towns throughout the world. Simply find the front door, enter and join in congregational worship or find a cozy spot within and start your own personal meditation. It has not always been that way. It certainly did not work that way thousands of years ago when one person, and only one person, had the understanding that the world was created by the One. A person would worship the sun, the moon or the stars or anything else within nature, but not their Creator.
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10, 2024
Parashat Noah 5785
Linda Ripps2024-10-30T12:11:11-04:00I cannot believe that a year has passed since I was invited to lead a Torah study session on this week’s Torah portion – Noah. Just two weeks after the jarring and heinous attack by Hamas on Israel, I could not imagine what I could teach that would bring comfort and strength to the people seated around the Torah study table. And yet… as we explored the various meanings of hamas, and the role of the keshet – the rainbow, it seemed to lift us; well, maybe just a little.
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10, 2024
Parashat Bereisheet 5785
Linda Ripps2024-10-21T15:04:37-04:00What does it mean to be accountable, to take responsibility? Is it a Jewish imperative? Is it a secular concept? Whom does it apply to and in what circumstances?
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09, 2024
Parashat Ha’azinu – 5785
Linda Ripps2024-09-30T11:31:44-04:00Calling G-d “The Rock” seems such a familiar expression that you might expect to see it a lot in the Torah. But it is not until this week, in Parashat Ha’azinu - at almost the end of the Torah - that we first hear G-d referred to as “The Rock”:
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09, 2024
Parshiyot Nitzavim-Vayelekh 5784
Linda Ripps2024-09-23T12:12:39-04:00What does it mean to “choose life”?
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09, 2024
Parashat Ki Tavo 5784
Linda Ripps2024-09-16T18:05:05-04:00Parashat Ki Tavo, which we read this week, outlines a series of blessings contingent upon following God’s commandments and a series of curses for disobedience. This serves as a warning of what to expect upon entering the Promised Land.
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09, 2024
Parashat Ki Teitzei 5784
Linda Ripps2024-09-09T14:05:48-04:00Our parashah this week opens with a somewhat disturbing series on scenarios – a man takes a captured woman and makes her his wife, a man with two wives tries to favor the child of his preferred wife, and a rebellious son is killed for not listening to his parents. Rashi, based on Midrash Tanhuma, explains that this sequence is interconnected – forcing this woman to be his wife will lead to hatred and attempting to disinherit her son, leading to a rebellious child.
