The AJR Center for Judaism and Science has an annual competition for the best student D’var Torah infused with science. Click here to view the entries that have won our לדעת חכמה (Lada’at Hokhmah) Award.
Parashat Hayyei Sarah – 5786
November 13, 2025
Rabbi Dorit Edut
A D’var Torah for Parashat Hayyei Sarah By Rabbi Dorit Edut For the last two years our Jewish people have been in a state of trauma and mourning – yes, I would say it is PTSD on a national scale. We’ve been worried constantly about what was happening in Israel, especially with the hostages, and worried about our physical safety and emotional security in the Diaspora. Now with the return of the living Israeli hostages from Gaza, and some of the bodies of the murdered hostages, we are able to have a modicum of relief, a chance to begin mourning rituals, and a ‘moment to breathe again’, as Rabbi Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Ha-Levi said in their recent “For Heaven’s Sake” podcast. As regards those of us in the Diaspora, there is a momentary lull, though we still live with much anxiety and keep both eyes and ears open...
D’var Torah Hayei Sarah – 5785
November 18, 2024
Rabbi Cantor Inna Serebro-Litvak ('16)
Recently 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.”
Parashat Hayei Sarah 5784
November 6, 2023
Rabbi Gerry L. Ginsburg
The portion Hayei Sarah, the life of Sarah, reflects more on her death, and how her husband, Abraham, buys land in Canaan to bury her. In fact, Abraham’s purchase of the land, at an exorbitant price, is the first purchase of land in Canaan recorded in the Torah.
Parashat Hayei Sarah 5783
November 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...
Parashat Hayei Sarah
October 28, 2021
The Torah portion of Hayei Sarah begins with tragedy. Abraham, dwelling in Beer Sheva, learns that his wife Sarah has died in the city of Hebron, a day’s journey away. He arrives to Sarah’s side “to cry for her and to eulogize her.” (v. 2) But for those who are familiar with traditional Jewish practices regarding care for the deceased, the next sentence makes this tragedy in Abraham’s life even more devastating: “And Abraham arose from the presence of his dead…” (v. 3)
Without burial plans already made for his wife, Abraham is forced – in the depth of his grief – to initiate a real estate transaction with his neighbors, the Hittites. The remainder of Genesis Chapter 23 describes these negotiations in exacting detail, perhaps in order to highlight how emotionally challenging this process was for Abraham in his vulnerable state.
