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.
Parashat Hayei Sarah 5781
November 13, 2020
Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah A D’var Torah for Parashat Hayei Sarah By Rabbi Doug Alpert (’12)For years I have worked with a number of organizations whose mission is centered around fighting racism. The Missouri branch of the NAACP, the Missouri coordinating committee for the Poor Peoples Campaign, the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity in my hometown of Kansas City. So it is with much anticipation that I will participate in this year’s AJR Fall Retreat (albeit virtually) focusing on race and racism. Much of the work in fighting racism is to wrestle with a sense of our own identity and community. Who is in and who is out, or, to coin a cultural moniker of Jewish identity that came up on day one of the retreat; who is a “member of the tribe.” (This reference had always struck me as a relic of my parents’ generation...
Parashat Hayei Sarah
November 21, 2019
A D’var Torah for Parashat Hayei Sarah By Rabbi David Markus I stopped counting how often I hear, “God loves me: I got a great parking spot.” Even some clergy, spiritual directors and theologians have a soft spot for the Angel of Miraculous Parking. I too admit to invoking Hanayat-El (from hanayah / ”parking”) under my breath. Perhaps it’s a cute half-joke – seemingly easy and low stakes, gently cutting down to size the vast uncontrollability of modern life. And as spiritual thinkers of integrity and rigor, let’s be candid about the many theological dilemmas of Hanayat-El: Why do bad parking spots happen to good people? Isn’t God close to the broken-hearted driver on a hurried errand? Does God do parking but not highway traffic or airport delays? Vanity of vanities: all parking is vanity! But Hanayat-El is no joke. Angel of Miraculous Parking or not, intercessory prayer – asking God for...
