Parashat Toldot, 5778

We’ll Always Have Parents: 2017
A D’var Torah for Toldot
by Rabbi Rena H. Kieval

In the classic movie Casablanca, the ill-fated lovers played by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman share these words of comfort: “We’ll always have Paris.” A playful poem by Mary Jo Salter uses that line to make a point. The poem, titled, “We’ll Always Have Parents,” notes that, “We’ll always have them…they’re in our baggage.” The poem calls to mind what a wise and learned person once told me: that no matter how old we are, most of us shape our lives in response to our parents. We may define ourselves in a positive way by who our parents were, and what they taught us, and we may also define ourselves against who our parents were, and what they taught us. Most of us are driven and shaped by mixed legacies. Whatever those legacies are, “we’ll always have parents.”

Parashat Toldot reflects this Read More >

By Rabbi Rena Kieval|2017-11-14T09:43:24-05:00November 14, 2017|

Parshat Hayei Sara, 5778

Hospitality: Judaism’s Family Business
by Rabbi Irwin Huberman

It was twenty years ago that my wife and I learned from two young children one of the most important values within all of Judaism.

It’s a lesson embodied in this week’s Parashah, Hayei Sarah-and it may well be a central pillar of what has allowed Jewish tradition to endure and evolve over thousands of years.

I remember that chilly winter night, long before I entered the rabbinate, when the local Chabad rabbi invited my wife and me for Shabbat dinner.

We were obviously nervous.

Would we say something wrong? Would we stumble when asked to recite the Sabbath blessings? These questions and a dozen more like them seemed to fill the air as we made our way up our hosts’ driveway.

As we approached the front steps, the door swung open, and out flew two boys, aged nine and eleven, who grabbed our gloves and coats and hats before we’d Read More >

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2017-11-09T10:45:40-05:00November 9, 2017|

Parshat VaYera, 5778

by Rabbi Isaac Mann

I would like to share with you a very insightful ethical interpretation of a midrashic comment that I heard in the name of Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Pam, who was the Rosh ha-Yeshiva of Mesivta Torah Vodaath in the latter part of the 20^th century.

Commenting on the verse in Genesis 21:6, which describes Sarah’s reaction to her giving birth to Isaac at the age of 90 (“G-d has brought me laughter; whoever hears about this will laugh with me”), the Midrash adds that many barren women became pregnant (literally “were remembered by G-d”) along with her, many sick were healed along with her, many prayers were answered along with her, for there was much laughter (i.e. joy) in the world (quoted by Rashi ad loc.).

The Midrash is apparently responding to the question of why would everyone who heard about Sarah’s birth erupt into joyful laughter. Surely Read More >

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2017-11-01T11:18:24-04:00November 1, 2017|

Parshat Lekh Lekha

On Being a Blessing

A Dvar Torah for Lekh Lekha

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz

“I’m on the 5^th floor and my window is open
and someone outside sneezed so i shouted ‘BLESS U’ out the window
and he said “THANK YOU BUILDING”
–From the twitter feed of Jonny Sun

In Parashat Lekh Lekha when Abram is called to go forth from his home God tells him, “And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will aggrandize your name, and [you shall] be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2).

What is the significance of God saying Abram will “be a blessing”?

One might assume that the one chosen by God to “be a blessing” would be pure of character and righteous in action. But this is not Abraham (as Abram is later renamed).

True, he is no doubt considered a blessing by his nephew Lot after he rescues Lot from captivity in Genesis Chapter 14. Read More >

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2017-10-24T08:41:20-04:00October 24, 2017|

Parshat Noah

A D’var Torah for Noah

By Rabbi Jill Hammer

Recently in one of my classes at AJR, my students and I noticed an interesting biblical paradox. In Parashat Noah, once the flood has subsided, Noah makes a thanksgiving offering to YHWH. YHWH smells the pleasing odor of the offering and offers a commitment: “As long as the earth endures, planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). In return for Noah’s gratitude for being saved, the Divine promises that the cyclical patterns of nature, the basic foundation upon which human life rests, shall not cease. Even before making a covenant with Noah or offering commands about human life, YHWH promises not to destroy the earth but to allow its cycles to continue. This is a great blessing to the human beings who have been tasked with tilling and tending the earth: “l’ovdah uleshomrah” (Genesis Read More >

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2017-10-17T11:56:45-04:00October 17, 2017|

Parshat Bereshit

The Ultimate Framing Narrative

A Dvar Torah for Bereshit

By Rabbi Lenny Levin

“In the beginning God created heavens and earth.” (Gen. 1:1)

“Who am I?” The answer to this question takes a narrative form. I am [fill in the name]. I grew up in such-and-such a family, went to such-and-such schools, have had such-and-such experiences and accomplishments. I belong to [one or more religious-ethnic backgrounds]. My [great-]-grandparents came here in 19xx. Our group had a history of so-many centuries in such-and-such a place. My personal narrative is embedded in family and group narratives, extending backwards through receding horizons.

Our teacher Rabbi Neil Gillman said it’s all narrative. We live our lives as narrative. When asked to tell someone (a date, an employer, a therapist, a chance encounter) something Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2017-10-10T20:51:45-04:00October 10, 2017|

Parashat Hukkat

On the Threshold of Eternity
A Dvar Torah for Hukkat
by Rabbi Len Levin

“He who touches the corpse of any human being shall be unclean for seven days…” (Num. 19:11)

For an entire lifetime, one builds up a network of interactions with others in society, a network comprising commerce, family, edifices of knowledge, productive endeavor, life in the public square, a living, breathing complex of order, structure, creative output. When one dies, one takes leave of that world of social interaction and goes on a private journey to we know not where, a mysterious realm where all the bonds of this world are dissolved.

The mourner stands on the threshold of these two realms. Being touched by the recently departed, the mourner feels different. S/he cannot go back to participating at once in the activities of this world as if nothing has happened. S/he must linger a while in the liminal space between this Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2017-06-26T14:14:17-04:00June 26, 2017|

Parashat Korah

by Rabbi Isaac Mann

Much ink has been spilled on trying to explain what motivated Korach and his followers to rebel against Moses and Aaron, which is the main story in this week’s Torah portion. Was it jealousy, envy, desire for honor or power, dissatisfaction with Moses’ leadership, or maybe all of the above?

Interestingly, as if the above are not enough, we also find other explanations of a more halakhic nature playing a role in the dispute between Korach and Moses. The Midrash (Midrash Tanhuma, beginning of the parashah), part of which is quoted by Rashi (ad loc.), suggests that Korach began his dispute with Moses by summoning the Sanhedrin (i.e. the religious leadership at the time) and asking them to rule on whether a tallit that is entirely dyed with tekheilet (a kind of bluish-purple dye) still needs tzitzit consisting of only one tekheilet fringe on each corner. When the issue was Read More >

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2017-06-23T07:48:28-04:00June 23, 2017|

Parashat Shelah

by Cantor Sandy Horowitz

What’s in a Name?

Parashat Shelah tells the story of twelve spies sent by Moses to scout out the land of Canaan that has been promised by God to the Israelite people. Upon their return, ten of the twelve report that the enemy is too great and the land unconquerable, thereby instilling doubt and fear among the Israelites. Only two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua, remain faithful to God’s promise of a successful outcome.

The Torah portion begins by listing the names of the spies, representatives from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Joshua, future leader of the Israelite people, is an unassuming fifth from among the twelve: “From the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun” (Numbers 13:8).

Numbers 13:16 reads, “These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land; and Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua/Yehoshua.” Without Read More >

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2017-06-13T14:57:02-04:00June 13, 2017|

Parashat Beha’alotkha

by Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

This week’s parashah begins with a description of the installation and function of the menorah in the Tabernacle.

“Speak to Aaron and say to him: When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand. Aaron did so; he set up its lamps to give light in front of the lampstand, as the LORD had commanded Moses. Now this was how the lampstand was made, out of hammered work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was hammered work; according to the pattern that the LORD had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.” (Numbers 8:2-4)

In the detailed instructions for the construction of the Tabernacle that are found in the Book of Exodus one can find the specifics of how the menorah was to be constructed, and what we have in Numbers seems to be the final description of how it Read More >

By ahsilver|2017-06-09T09:55:52-04:00June 9, 2017|

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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