Parashat Vayehi 5781

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayehi
By Rabbi Jill Hackell (’13)The Smothers brothers had an ongoing routine in which Tommy (the older brother), complained to Dickie (the younger brother), “Mom always liked you best”. It was funny because their squabbles reflected the sibling rivalry that was present, to some degree, in every family.

I didn’t realize at the time that it also reflected almost the entire book of Bereshit (Genesis) in the Torah. Parental favoritism – especially of the younger child over the older – and sibling rivalry is a theme that runs throughout. Brothers vie for position, for approval, for birthright, for blessing, and time after time, it is the younger, rather than the elder who is favored. Here are some examples.

Jacob and Esau struggle with each other even in the womb. Esau, the firstborn, is favored by his father, Jacob by his Read More >

By Rabbi Jill Hackell M.D.|2022-07-29T11:24:23-04:00January 1, 2021|

Parashat Vayigash 5781

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Encouraging ALL Our Children to Dream
A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayigash
By Rabbi Marc Rudolph (’04)

This week in our parasha we continue to read about that dreamer par excellence, Joseph. The second youngest child among 12 sons, he dreams of his older brothers one day bowing down to him. His brothers ridicule him for his dreaming, and his father, Jacob, rebukes him for sharing his dreams and causing trouble in the family. But Jacob also takes his son’s dream seriously.

Joseph’s dreams express his ambition to someday be great. In this week’s parasha he uses his extraordinary talents to rise to become second in command to the Pharaoh in Egypt. In that position he will save the country from famine and help Pharaoh to amass a considerable fortune in the process. His achievements will have surpassed his wildest dreams.

Have you noticed that in Read More >

By Rabbi Marc Rudolph|2022-07-29T11:24:23-04:00December 25, 2020|

Parashat Mikeitz 5781

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Mekeitz
By Rabbi Enid Lader

Pharaoh has had a sleepless night; well, one of those nights when you have a bad dream, wake up, get a drink of water to calm yourself down, get back into bed and fall back to sleep, only to have another even more frightening dream. Pharaoh gathers his counselors and magicians around him, but no one is able to (or wants to) interpret his dreams. It is the chief cupbearer who suddenly remembers Joseph’s last words to him when they both were in prison after Joseph had correctly interpreted the cupbearer’s dream – “Remember me to Pharaoh so as to free me from this place…” (Gen. 40:14). The cupbearer promptly forgot as he gained his freedom… And now, two years later, when a dream interpreter is needed, the cupbearer Read More >

By Rabbi Enid C. Lader|2022-07-29T11:24:23-04:00December 18, 2020|

Parashat VaYeishev 5781

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Which Hanukkah Story?
A D’var Torah for Parashat VaYeishev
By Rabbi Jeffrey Segelman

Most of us know that there are two Hanukkah stories. The first is the one that appears in the Talmud (Shabbat 21b). This is the one we learned as children. In short, the Greeks sought to force all the Jews to abandon Judaism and adopt Greek religious culture. A small band of Jews, led by Mattityahu HaCohein and his sons, rebelled and courageously fought back against the Greek armies.

Upon their success, they entered the Temple that the Greeks had defiled. They cleaned the building and rebuilt the altar and as they were preparing to rededicate the Temple, they found that they had but one day’s worth of pure olive oil to light the menorah. They lit what they had and behold, God brought a miracle and the oil lasted not Read More >

By Rabbi Jeffrey Segelman|2022-07-29T11:24:23-04:00December 11, 2020|

Parashat Vayishlah 5781

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What Goes Around
A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayishlah
By Rabbi Michael Rothbaum (’06)

The aphorism “what goes around comes around” is so ingrained in the English language as to seem timeless. I’d always assumed it was from a Shakespearean sonnet, or maybe one of Aesop’s fables.

But a little Googling reveals it to be of a much more recent vintage. The earliest citation I found was from an African American newspaper, The Pittsburgh Courier, in 1952. Today it refers to getting one’s comeuppance — and not in a good way. But in what appears to be the first time the phrase appeared in print, columnist Nat D. Williams uses it to express a positive sentiment. Williams writes with pride of African American athletes finally getting their chance to prove their ability in the Olympics and in Major League Baseball, offering Black spectators “a surge of pride in seeing the keen minds Read More >

By Rabbi Michael Rothbaum|2022-07-29T11:24:23-04:00December 4, 2020|

Parashat Vayeitzei 5781

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Noticing the Good (and the Bad)
A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayeitzei
By Rabbi Lizz Goldstein (’16)

I always feel a bit conflicted at this time of year, and in some ways this year’s necessary changes have alleviated some of my discomfort around celebrating Thanksgiving. I love this day for food and family, for gratitude and the opportunity to share all that we have, but sometimes it’s impossible to ignore that this holiday is based on a white-washed version of history that in reality led to genocide. It’s one thing to take the time out of our busy lives to just enjoy a pause for hakarat hatov – noticing the good. But is it necessary in a time of physical shut down and overwhelming flow of information of the good and bad in this country?

I recall some years ago, Read More >

By Rabbi Lizz Goldstein|2022-07-29T11:24:23-04:00November 27, 2020|

Parashat Toledot 5781

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Toledot
By Rabbi Ariann Weitzman (’11)

Parashat Toledot traces the arc of the patriarch Isaac’s life from the beginnings of his married life to his old age. Along the way, seemingly more energetic actors plot and scheme around him: his wife Rebecca, his sons Jacob and Esau, even his neighbors, the Philistines. Isaac’s primary virtue appears to be naivety.

Some readers find Isaac’s character to be one of extended adolescence, always traveling in his parents’ footsteps, repeating the steps of their lives, and never venturing forth on his own. One might say that he has a failure to launch. Instead of going out to find a wife, one is brought to him. Instead of leaving the land of Canaan in time of famine to improve his fate, he stays close to home. He moves Read More >

By Rabbi Ariann Weitzman|2022-07-29T11:24:23-04:00November 19, 2020|

Parashat Hayei Sarah 5781

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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 Read More >

By Doug Alpert|2022-07-29T11:24:24-04:00November 13, 2020|

Parashat Lekh Lekha 5781

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Like Terah or Abraham?
A D’var Torah for Parashat Lekh Lekha
By Rabbi Marc Rudolph (’04)

Today I am going to do something quite audacious. I am going to disagree with one of the greatest sages who ever lived! I am going to take issue with one of the greatest Jewish minds of the 20^th century — The Hafetz Hayyim!

Ever since Ora Prouser introduced us to his collection of weekly Torah Commentary, “Al HaTorah”, I have turned to this collection for study and inspiration. For this week’s Torah portion he focuses on this verse, “Abraham took his family and his possessions and went forth to go to the Land of Caanan – and he came to the land of Caanan” (Gen. 12:5). He compares this to a verse about Terah, Abraham’s father, that we read last week. There the Torah says, “Terah Read More >

By Rabbi Marc Rudolph|2022-07-29T11:24:24-04:00October 30, 2020|

Parashat Noah 5781

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A D’var Torah for Parashat Noah
By Rabbi Enid Lader (’10)

Our Torah opens with an organized story of creation – a place for everything and everything in its place. Each step of the way, the natural world is tov – good. And when it is filled with living creatures and human beings, it is tov me’od – very good. As we end chapter one and begin the second chapter of Bereishit, all seems right with the world. But “very good” or even “good” does not sustain us.

We have inquiring minds, and left to our own devices, we will seek out our own answers, rather than follow specific directions. Yet, unless there is some kind of structure in place, something that helps guide us in making good (or even very good) decisions, where will our own answers lead us – Read More >

By Rabbi Enid C. Lader|2022-07-29T11:24:24-04:00October 23, 2020|

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

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