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 Mikeitz – 5786
December 15, 2025
Rabbi Inna Serebro-Litvak
A D’var Torah for Parashat Mikeitz By Rabbi Inna Serebro-Litvak Who doesn’t like fairy tales? Even as adults, although we don’t always admit it, we enjoy going back to the stories that were once read to us by our parents. The magic of fairy tales, the happy endings, the prevalence of good versus evil—these concepts stay with us forever, instilling hope that, even when life is hard, it will get better. My favorites were always the ones that had narratives involving themes of destiny, overcoming challenges, true love, and reclaiming what’s lost. Take “Cinderella.” She worked so hard, lived in poverty, and was abused. Yet she was the one—not her rich sisters—whom the prince fell in love with and married (not without some magic, of course). Or what about “The Ugly Duckling?” He was abandoned by the swan flock and was so ugly that no one wanted him. But as...
Parashat Mikeitz 5785
December 23, 2024
Rabbi Greg Schindler (’09)
“The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part.”
– “The Waiting”, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Parashat Mikeitz 5784
December 11, 2023
Rabbi Rena H. Kieval ('06)
“How many children do you have?” This question, often posed as a simple social pleasantry, can be a complex one for a bereaved parent. Does one inject the intense, personal topic of a deceased child into a casual conversation with a stranger? Or does one ignore, not count, the child who is physically absent, but is still present in one’s heart and family?
Parashat Mikeitz 5783
December 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 in...
Parashat Mikeitz 5782
December 3, 2021
Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah A D’var Torah for Parashat Mikeitz By Rabbi Jeffrey Segelman This Shabbat is a three Torah Shabbat. We will read the weekly parasha of Mikeitz, then the reading for Rosh Hodesh and then for Hanukkah. Though it may be a stretch, let’s see if we can weave together the common themes of these three. The story of Hanukkah is captured in the conflict between Hellenists, those Jews who embraced much of Greek culture (sometimes to the exclusion of core Jewish rituals and values) and those Jews who saw Greek culture as the defilement of Torah and the holy Jewish way of life. Obviously the Greeks themselves fought on the side of the Hellenists, which made the Hasmonean victory nothing short of miraculous. Parashat Mikeitz tells the story of the rise of Joseph from prison to become the viceroy of Egypt. At the age of thirty, having been in Egypt already for thirteen years, Joseph is given...
