Parashat Yitro

by Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

The highlight of this week’s parashah is the reading of the Ten Commandments. While there are midrashic compilations on individual books of the Bible, the Ten Commandments merited having their own individual midrash, Midrash Aseret ha-Dibrot, the Midrash of the Ten Commandments. This midrash was edited during the Middle Ages and draws upon many sources, both Jewish and non-Jewish. It is not structured like a classical midrash, and Joel Rosenberg wrote that “[it] represents the transition in Jewish literature from interpretation of Scripture to pure fiction, in a more modern sense of the term.”

Below is an edited version of a story included in this midrash about the commandment against adultery, a story that describes the trials and tribulations of a certain Rabbi Meir.

A tale is told of Rabbi Meir, that he used to go up to Jerusalem on each and every festival. And he would stay at the home Read More >

By ahsilver|2017-02-16T07:10:34-05:00February 16, 2017|

Parashat Beshalah

by Cantor Sandy Horowitz

The narrative of parashat Beshalah describes numerous dramatic events immediately following our ancestors’ liberation from slavery, in which the power of God plays a central role. God leads the people as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night; when the Israelites reach the Sea of Reeds and seem to have no way forward God instructs Moses to raise his rod and the sea splits, allowing them to cross to safety. There is the destruction of the Egyptians who chase after them; there is the shirat hayam, the song at the sea in praise of God. There is also complaining, and bitter waters made sweet by the rod of Moses at God’s commandment, and manna from heaven, the daily portion, again provided by God.

Then towards the end of this week’s story Amalek approaches, and Moses instructs Joshua to lead the battle against Read More >

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2017-02-08T23:19:13-05:00February 8, 2017|

Parashat Bo

by Rabbi David Almog

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

Liberation Starts With Listening to the Oppressed

Our traditional image of Moses is the faithful transmitter of the word of God, Torah, and Mitzvot. Therefore, it is a bit surprising that, in both chapters 12 and 13 of Exodus, in the very first commands given by God to Israel regarding the marking of liberation, the words of God and those of Moses seem to differ in Read More >

By ahsilver|2017-02-02T22:15:52-05:00February 2, 2017|

Parashat Vaeirah

by Michael Pitkowsky

“And the Lord spoke to Moses: Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your rod over the streams, over the rivers, over the ponds, and raise up (ve-ha’al) frogs upon (al) the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frog came up (va-ta’al) and covered the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 8:1-2)

When some people think about the plague of frogs in Egypt they have trouble seeing this plague on the same level as let’s say boils or pestilence. Frogs all over Egypt? OK, not something that any of us would want, but I’ll take that over the killing of the first born any day. Despite the possible comical vision of what this plague may have been like, it was treated with utmost seriousness by our sages.

One Talmudic interpretation recognized a grammatical anomaly in the text describing this plague.

“‘And the frog came Read More >

By ahsilver|2017-01-25T18:08:50-05:00January 25, 2017|

Parashat Shemot

by Rabbi Jill Hammer

“Just as they oppressed [the Hebrew people], so it increased and spread out…”

There is a fierce assertion at the beginning of the book of Exodus that the oppressed will not be stifled by oppression. In Exodus 1:12, we hear that as the Hebrews are forced into slave labor, they continue to increase. “Yirbeh,” the word for “it increased” refers to fertility: they bore children and became many. Yet I hear other echoes in “yirbeh.” In that word we find the word “rav,” master, and the implication of autonomy. “Yifrotz,” it spread out, can refer to the increase of a people, as when Avraham was told “ufaratzta,” you shall spread out. Yet “yifrotz” can also mean “it burst out,” as in Peretz, the child of Judah and Tamar, who “made a breach for himself” in coming out of Tamar’s womb. I hear in this verse the implication that long before Read More >

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2017-01-18T22:43:20-05:00January 18, 2017|

Parashat Vayehi

The Future — A Sealed Book?
By Rabbi Len Levin

If you were handed a sealed envelope that you had reason to believe contained an infallible prediction of the future course of your life—or of the world’s political history of the next twenty years—would you open it?

This week’s portion Vayehi is unique in its orthography of all portions in the Torah. Whereas the beginning of most portions is indicated by a clear paragraph break, with the words beginning on a new line or after a couple of inches of blank space, Vayehi begins after only a two-letter space separating it from the previous text. The rabbis of the third century interpreted this anomaly: “Jacob our patriarch sought to disclose the end of days, but it was sealed off from him.” (Genesis Rabbah 96:1)

Indeed, in the continuation of the portion, Jacob gathers his sons and tells them, “Come together that I Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2017-01-12T17:05:31-05:00January 12, 2017|

Parashat Vayigash

Do Numbers Really Matter?
by Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

This week’s parashah includes a detailed reckoning of all of the Israelites who went down to Egypt. In the midst of this list the following is written: “These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, together with his daughter Dinah; in all his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three.” (Genesis 46:15) This seemingly innocent verse was the cause for much exegetical discussion.

Before we speak about this verse, how about the following verse that also raised some eyebrows: “And Joseph’s sons who were born to him in Egypt were two in number. Thus the total of Jacob’s household who came to Egypt was seventy persons.” (Genesis 46:27) It was simple mathematics, or maybe not so simple mathematics, that was the catalyst for so many comments on these verses. In his Hagut be-Parshiyot ha-Torah, Yehudah Gershuni brings a number of commentators who Read More >

By ahsilver|2017-01-06T09:13:04-05:00January 6, 2017|

Parashat Mikeitz

by Cantor Sandy Horowitz

Parashat Mikeitz continues the story of Joseph which was begun in last week’s Torah portion. A theme that connects the two readings is that of three pairs of dreams, each with their own functions.

Last week the young Joseph, favored by his father Jacob and hated by his siblings, fueled the fires of hatred and jealousy by recounting two dreams. In the first, Joseph was an upright sheaf of wheat surrounded by his brothers in the form of sheaves bowing down to him; in the second dream, he was the center of all the 11 planets [read brothers] and the sun and moon. His recounting caused the siblings to become even more furious at this brother of another mother, they threw him into a pit and then sold him to a caravan of traders headed for Egypt. Even though the statement of the brothers’ hatred for Joseph (Gen. 37:4) precedes the Read More >

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2016-12-28T14:49:13-05:00December 28, 2016|

Parashat Vayeishev

by Rabbi David Almog

Once upon a ‘Vayehi‘: Listening to the Torah
Parashat Vayeishev

And then

I always thought the words, and then, were a prelude to something wonderful. Like seeing a ship come in or finding a note in your letterbox, when you weren’t expecting one. That swift, surprising transition from nothing to everything.

And then.

Two little words that hold a world of promise.

And then the light pierced though the dark, forbidding sky, and the rain stopped falling.
And then I met you.
– Lang Leav

For writers, the simple words “and then” are much maligned as redundant. The sequence in the sentence, “I sat down and I read the parashah,” is clear without the word “then”. “And then,” if used repeatedly, can sound unwieldy. “I went to the store, and then I bought groceries, and then I cooked dinner, and then I did the dishes.” Nevertheless, when used effectively, “and then” can be emphatic, clarifying the Read More >

By ahsilver|2016-12-22T23:04:59-05:00December 22, 2016|

Parashat Vayishlah

Jacob’s Behavior Towards Esau: Appeasement or Realpolitik?

by Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

This week’s parashah continues the description of Jacob’s attempts at rapprochement with his estranged brother Esau. In his book on Genesis, Rabbi Yehudah Gilad draws our attention to a word that plays an important role in the Jacob-Esau narrative, minha — gift.

“Spending the night there that night, he took a gift from what was at hand, for Esav his brother.” (Gen. 32:14)

“Then say: — to your servant, to Yaakov, it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esav, and here, he himself is also behind us.” (Gen. 32:19)

“You shall say: Also — here, your servant Yaakov is behind us. For he said to himself: I will wipe (the anger from) his face with the gift that goes ahead of my face; afterward, when I see his face, perhaps he will lift up my face!” (Gen. 32:21)

“The gift crossed over ahead of his face, but Read More >

By ahsilver|2016-12-14T14:05:58-05:00December 14, 2016|

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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