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 Vaeira – 5786
January 13, 2026
Rabbi Wendy Love Anderson
A D’var Torah for Parashat Vaeira Rabbi Wendy Love Anderson Just A Number At the beginning of Parashat Vaeira, the Torah detours from its ongoing Exodus narrative to provide genealogies for Moses and Aaron and recapitulate their divine appointment to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. At the very end of this digression, though, there’s an unexpected piece of information: “Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three, when they made their demand on Pharaoh” (Exod. 7:7). What do Moses and Aaron’s ages have to do with the Exodus? A plausible academic theory is that this information was inserted in an effort to harmonize the details of Moses’ biography: while he has a wife and young children when God commissions him in Exodus 3-4, in the later books of the Torah it’s established that the Israelites have been wandering for forty years before Moses dies at age 120. But more...
Parashat Vayeira 5786
November 3, 2025
Rabbi Rachel Posner and PhD
Abraham’s Vision: Welcoming the Stranger A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayeira by Rabbi Rachel Posner, Ph.D. (AJR 25) In the middle of the day, under the full weight of the desert sun, God appears to Abraham as he sits at the entrance of his tent. So opens the scene in which we witness our patriarch’s radical hospitality. The theme of vision preoccupies the opening of our (appropriately titled) Parashat Vayeira (“and He appeared”): Genesis 18:1–2 וַיֵּרָ֤א אֵלָיו֙ הֹ’ בְּאֵלֹנֵ֖י מַמְרֵ֑א וְה֛וּא יֹשֵׁ֥ב פֶּֽתַח־הָאֹ֖הֶל כְּחֹ֥ם הַיּֽוֹם׃ HaShem appeared to him by the terebinths of Mamre; he was sitting at the entrance of the tent as the day grew hot. וַיִּשָּׂ֤א עֵינָיו֙ וַיַּ֔רְא וְהִנֵּה֙ שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה אֲנָשִׁ֔ים נִצָּבִ֖ים עָלָ֑יו וַיַּ֗רְא וַיָּ֤רׇץ לִקְרָאתָם֙ מִפֶּ֣תַח הָאֹ֔הֶל וַיִּשְׁתַּ֖חוּ אָֽרְצָה׃ Looking up, he saw three figures standing near him. Perceiving this, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them, bowing to the ground. God...
Parashat Vaera – 5785
January 20, 2025
Rabbi Cantor Inna Serebro-Litvak ('16)
Let me ask you this: “As a child, what did you most associate with Christmas? What about Hanukkah? Easter? Passover?”
Think about the images you associated with these holidays. Then think about what an evergreen tree has to do with the birth of Jesus; or why eight gifts represent Hanukkah. And how about connecting jelly donuts with the victory of Maccabees over Assyrian King Antiochus and the Hellenistic influence over the Israelites. Better yet, what does a bunny and chocolate eggs have to do with the crucifixion of Jesus? And even more interesting, how does the happy tune of the “Frog” song reflect on the horrifying experience of the one of 10 plagues – which caused so much suffering among Egyptians?
Parashat Vayeira 5785
November 12, 2024
Hazzan Rabbi Luis Cattan ('20)
As 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?
Parashat Vayeira 5783
November 7, 2022
How Do you Make a Well or a Ram Disappear?
By Rabbi Rob Scheinberg
Twenty years ago, two experimental psychologists at Harvard, named Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, created what has become one of the most famous experiments in the behavioral sciences.
The participants in this study were given a simple task. They just had to watch a brief video that included several people passing basketballs back and forth to each other. Three of these players were wearing white shirts, and three were wearing black shirts. The task was simple: watch the ball that was being passed among the players with the white shirts, and count how many times the basketball was passed. This is not difficult – most people came up with the right number.
