Parashat Bo

by Cantor Sandy Horowitz

The recitation of the ten plagues at the Passover Seder table is one of the rituals used to retell the story of the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt. This ritual is often done hastily, as we dip our finger in wine and name each plague. As we consider this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Bo, let us slow down this ritual in order to examine the significance of last three of these plagues. All three relate to darkness.

In continuation from last week’s Torah reading, a pattern has been established in which Moses asks Pharaoh to free the Israelite slaves and let them leave Egypt, Pharaoh refuses, and God casts plagues upon the Egyptians. Of this week’s final three, the first is the plague of locusts. In Exodus 10:15 we read, “They obscured the view of the earth, and the earth became darkened [vatehshakh ha-aretz].” Pharaoh asks Moses’ Read More >

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2015-01-21T21:05:22-05:00January 21, 2015|

Parashat Va-Eira

Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

There is a new satirical TV show in Israel called Ha-Yehudim Baim, the Jews are Coming. For the show there is no figure in Jewish history who is off limits. Whether it be Moshe Rabbeinu or Moshe Dayan, no one is immune. One sketch that has been broadcast on a number of episodes is the “Commentator’s Gallery.” In this segment, which is based upon raucous shows that discuss political issues, the two important Bible commentators Rashi and Umberto Cassuto debate, if one can call it that, issues related to the Bible. A host tries to keep things under control, often separating Rashi and Cassuto after they trade barbs.

One topic that was discussed on a recent episode was the Ten Plagues. The following dialogue took place between the characters. [The video in Hebrew can be viewed here.]

Host: Another hot topic this evening…the Ten Plagues.

Rashi: I’m in favor.

Cassuto: Read More >

By ahsilver|2015-01-15T23:30:56-05:00January 15, 2015|

Parashat Shemot

Who Is A Jew?
by Rabbi Len Levin

“And these are the names of the children of Israel who went down to Egypt with Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah…” (Ex. 1:1-4)

Who are the Jewish people? Are they a biological family, a nation, a community of faith, a cultural group, or partners in a common destiny transcending all these categories?

The answer we get in the Bible seems deceptively clear. After enumerating the ancestors of the seventy nations of humanity in Genesis Chapter 10, the Torah goes on to focus on Abraham and his descendants. The Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites (not to mention the Philistines) are given remote pedigrees, descended from non-Semitic branches of the Noahide family of humanity. The neighboring nations of Edom, Ammon, Moab, Ishmael, Midian, and Amalek are all given places as siblings or cousins in the Abrahamic family tree. Israel is identified with the descendants of Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2015-01-06T15:58:29-05:00January 6, 2015|

Parashat Va-Yehi

Parashat Va-Yehi
Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

Many people associate this week’s parashah with endings. Much of the parashah consists of Jacob’s final testament to his children, and next week we no longer read about the trials and tribulations of Abraham’s descendants, but rather of the rise of Moses as a leader and the Israelite’s enslavement in Egypt. Despite this emphasis on the end of an era, an interpretation found in the Talmud understands a verse found at the beginning of this week’s parashah as a sign of beginning.

Until Abraham there was no such thing as [the sign of] old age. Whoever saw Abraham thought, “This is Isaac.” Whoever saw Isaac thought, “This is Abraham.” Abraham prayed for mercy so that he might have [signs of] old age, as it is said, “And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age” (Gen. 24:1). Until the time of Jacob Read More >

By ahsilver|2015-01-02T02:06:47-05:00January 2, 2015|

Parashat Vayehi

Parashat Va-Yehi
Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

Many people associate this week’s parashah with endings. Much of the parashah consists of Jacob’s final testament to his children, and next week we no longer read about the trials and tribulations of Abraham’s descendants, but rather of the rise of Moses as a leader and the Israelite’s enslavement in Egypt. Despite this emphasis on the end of an era, an interpretation found in the Talmud understands a verse found at the beginning of this week’s parashah as a sign of beginning.

Until Abraham there was no such thing as [the sign of] old age. Whoever saw Abraham thought, “This is Isaac.” Whoever saw Isaac thought, “This is Abraham.” Abraham prayed for mercy so that he might have [signs of] old age, as it is said, “And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age” (Gen. 24:1). Until the time of Jacob Read More >

By ahsilver|2015-01-02T02:06:47-05:00January 2, 2015|

Parashat Vayigash

Parashat Vayigash
by Rabbi Isaac Mann

This week’s Torah portion Vayigash begins with a dramatic confrontation between Joseph, Pharaoh’s viceroy, and Judah over the fate of Benjamin, in whose sack was discovered Joseph’s silver goblet. The Egyptian leader insisted, as we learn from last week’s parashah, that the “thief” Benjamin remain a slave in Egypt while Judah offered to remain in his stead and allow Benjamin to return to his elderly father.

In his plea to the Egyptian ruler, not knowing of course that he was their long-lost brother Joseph, Judah recounts their previous conversations as well as those that took place with their father over the issue of bringing Benjamin down to Egypt. The entire tone of Judah’s monologue is very plaintive, pleading with the ruler in almost a begging manner to show mercy and compassion for a bereft father. Judah was the supplicant entreating the all-powerful lord.

While this appears to be the plain Read More >

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2014-12-23T22:16:12-05:00December 23, 2014|

Parashat Mikeitz

Seven Years of Famine
by Hazzan Marcia Lane

And Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same: God has told Pharaoh what He is about to do. The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years it is the same dream. The seven lean and ugly cows that followed are seven years, as are also the seven empty ears scorched by the cast wind; they are seven years of famine. It is just as I have told Pharaoh: God has revealed to Pharaoh what He is about to do. Immediately ahead are seven years of great abundance in all the land of Egypt. After them will come seven years of famine, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. As the land is ravaged by famine, no trace of the abundance will be left in the land because of the famine Read More >

By ahsilver|2014-12-23T22:13:46-05:00December 23, 2014|

Parashat Vayeishev

Cantor Sandy Horowitz

“Trouble, trouble, trouble trouble…trouble been doggin’ my soul since the day I was born…”
Ray Lamontagne

At the beginning of Parashat Vayeishev we read that Jacob settled in the land of his fathers. Right away however, things become quite unsettled: “Joseph brought bad reports about [his brothers] to his father” (Gen 37:2). Jacob’s youngest son is a seventeen-year-old tattle-tale.

When we read the brothers’ perspective on the situation two verses later, we see that Joseph’s actions actually aren’t the primary reason for their hatred: “His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, so they hated him” (Gen 37:4). Jacob’s blatant displays of favoritism are at the root of the problem.

Jacob’s favoritism goes back to Parashat Vayishlah, when he encountered his estranged brother Esau. As Esau advanced towards him with four hundred men, “He placed the maidservants and their children first and Leah and her children Read More >

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2014-12-10T12:41:46-05:00December 10, 2014|

Parashat Vayishlah

The Meaning of Aloneness
by Rabbi Jill Hammer

“Jacob went out from Beersheva, and went toward Haran.” (Gen. 28:10)

“With my staff alone I crossed this Jordan.” (Gen. 32:11)

“Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him till dawn.” (Gen. 32:25)

“Dinah, the daughter Leah bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the land, saw her, took her, and raped her.” (Gen. 34:1)

There’s a hill I like to visit in Central Park. A wild meadow surrounded by five great trees, it’s often filled with head-high sumac and milkweed, or, if the Parks Department mows it, with marshy grass underfoot. Years ago, it had a mysterious dead tree at its center. Over the course of years, a vine wrapped around the tree, and when the tree finally fell, the vine took its Read More >

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2014-12-03T12:57:54-05:00December 3, 2014|

Parashat Vayeitzei

Rabbi Len Levin

“Indeed, God is in this place!”

This week, the Torah tells of the first of two climactic encounters that the Patriarch Jacob experienced, both of them occurring at transitional points of his outward career and inner growth. This week we read of Jacob’s dream of a ladder reaching from earth to heaven. The place — Beth El (House of God) — later became (not coincidentally) one of the major cultic centers of the Israelite kingdom.

The rabbis were so impressed by the image of the ladder connecting earth and heaven that in a rather creative interpretation they conflated Jerusalem and Beth El, understanding them to represent one central connecting point, the umbilicus or navel of the earth, the point from which the creation of the world proceeded. They declared the location of the Jerusalem temple to be Even Shetiyah, the Foundation Stone, for on it the world was founded. This idea was Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2014-12-03T11:59:55-05:00December 3, 2014|

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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