Parashat Mishpatim

By Rabbi/Cantor Anne Heath

In Parashat Mishpatim we reach the pivot point of the Book of Exodus. Until now we have been engaged with the exciting history of our ancestors’ release from slavery in Egypt and the subsequent revelation at Mount Sinai. In the following weeks, our Exodus studies guide us through the vision and building of the Mishkan (portable Tabernacle) in the wilderness; the narrative about which is interrupted for a few chapters to recount the episode of the golden calf.

In Parashat Mishpatim Moses receives laws on worship, slavery (or serfdom, or servitude), property, moral behavior, Sabbaths and festivals. These laws immediately follow the Ten Commandments (in Parashat
Yitro from last Shabbat); enhancing and extending them into the mini-law code often called the Book of the Covenant. Parashat Mishpatim concludes with our ancestors’ affirmation of the Covenant.

Moses first brings God’s laws to our ancestors, speaking all that he, Moses, alone has heard. Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2010-02-10T13:10:00-05:00February 10, 2010|

Parashat Bo

By Laurie Levy

“It’s been a long time comin’, it’s going to be a long time gone. But you know, the darkest hour, is always just before the dawn.” David Crosby (1968)

Last week’s parashah, Va’Era, leaves off right in the middle of the action where seven plagues have been visited on the Egyptians and Pharaoh’s heart is quite stiff. A teaching about why the parashah breaks here focuses on a common element of the remaining three plagues: darkness.

In the’eighth plague, when the locusts swarmed, they covered the “surface [literally ‘eye’] of all the ground, and the ground became dark.” (Ex. 10:15) Not only was the land not visible to the Egyptians, but the land itself appears to be blinded from its cover of locusts. This of course foreshadows the ninth plague which limits the sight of the Egyptians even further, with darkness so thick that it could be touched. (Ex. 10:21) And Read More >

By ahsilver|2010-02-10T12:14:10-05:00February 10, 2010|

Parashat Yitro

By Hayley Mica Siegel

To say that I come from a family of talkers is an understatement. At an early age, I was taught “It’s perfectly fine to interrupt someone else if you know his/her answer or what he/she is about to say” by my elders and witnessed irsthand that this statement was upheld to the highest degree! Dinnertime could nicely be described as a six-ring circus (there were five members of my family and a bearded collie named Bailey). There was an “unspoken” challenge laid in front of every member of my household: to get as many words or opinions interjected into the dinner conversation as possible. And with three boisterous children, two engaged parents, and a street savvy dog, it’s fair to say that people in the lobby of my building could have easily heard every idea, bark, or interjection. Even at family functions (or other people’s family functions!), we never Read More >

By ahsilver|2010-02-03T13:38:24-05:00February 3, 2010|

Parashat BeShallah

By Joan Lenowitz

“BaMayim Ro’im,” In the Water They See

It is the rainy season in Israel right now and the words of acknowledgement that we insert into the Amidah for God’s benevolence in bestowing life-preserving rains upon us during this season seem not to have not gone unheeded. It has been raining without pause for nearly a week here in Israel.

In the Talmud (Ta’anit 23a) there is a story about Honi hame’agel, Honi the circle-maker; God seems to be especially receptive to Honi’s prayers for rain. So when the Rabbis are distressed about the lack of rain they come to Honi and ask him to implore God for rain. When his initial prayer does not succeed, Honi decides to play “hard ball” with God. He draws a circle around himself and tells the Holy One that he will not remove himself from within this circle until God sends rain. God obliges but Read More >

By ahsilver|2010-01-26T18:39:48-05:00January 26, 2010|

Parashat Va’era

By Sanford Olshansky

This parashah forces us to ask ourselves whether we believe in a God who acts in history – a God who even if not very hands-on today, must have been very hands-on at one time. The Genesis tales about the lives of our patriarchs and matriarchs could be taken as allegories. Even the Exodus stories about Moses’ birth and rescue and God’s first revelation to Moses at the burning bush are taken by many people as allegories.

In this week’s parashah, Va-era, God responds to Pharaoh’s refusal to let the Israelites go by sending a series of plagues. We all know the sequence from reciting it at the Passover Seder: blood, frogs, vermin, insects, pestilence, boils and hail. (The locusts, darkness and slaying of the firstborn Egyptians come next week in Parashat Bo.) After each plague, Pharaoh’s heart hardens and he refuses to let the Israelites go. The plagues described in Read More >

By ahsilver|2010-01-13T11:17:41-05:00January 13, 2010|

Parashat Shemot

By Rabbi Allen Darnov

“When Moses had grown up, he went out to his kinsfolk” (Exod 2:11). This verse has generally been understood to denote that Moses, aware of his Hebrew identity, sympathetically goes out to investigate the suffering of his oppressed kinsmen in Egypt.

When might Moses have learned that he was a Hebrew? Moshe Greenberg believes that Moses remained at home with his mother beyond the period of weaning (cf. Gen 21:8), and that he was therefore old enough to acquire a Hebrew identity from his family (Understanding Exodus, p. 42). Nachmanides explains that Pharaoh’s court “told him he was Jewish (Yehudi) and he therefore desired to see them because they were his kinsmen” (Nachmanides to Exod 2:11).

However, it is also possible to read Exod 2:11 otherwise, that Moses does not have knowledge of his Hebrew roots, and so he does not know the Hebrew slaves are his kinsmen when Read More >

By ahsilver|2010-01-06T06:29:16-05:00January 6, 2010|

Parashat Vayehi

By Rabbi Michael G. Kohn

As we look at this parashah, I would like us to think about the message the Torah is giving us as parents. I have always had a difficult time with this parashah, first, because it focuses on the death of the last of our patriarchs. The description of Jacob’s “family” – in reality, his sons – gathered at his bedside is one familiar to most, if not all of us. At the death of my father of blessed memory almost 17 years ago, the scene played out almost as described in the Torah. First, my father spoke with two of his grandsons, as did Jacob, before speaking with his children. Then, he spoke with each of his children individually, though many of us were in the room together with him.

Which brings me to my second difficulty with this parashah. I am a parent and a grandparent and I Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-12-29T21:06:35-05:00December 29, 2009|

Parashat Vayhi

By Rabbi Michael G. Kohn

As we look at this parashah, I would like us to think about the message the Torah is giving us as parents. I have always had a difficult time with this parashah, first, because it focuses on the death of the last of our patriarchs. The description of Jacob’s “family” – in reality, his sons – gathered at his bedside is one familiar to most, if not all of us. At the death of my father of blessed memory almost 17 years ago, the scene played out almost as described in the Torah. First, my father spoke with two of his grandsons, as did Jacob, before speaking with his children. Then, he spoke with each of his children individually, though many of us were in the room together with him.

Which brings me to my second difficulty with this parashah. I am a parent and a grandparent and I Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-12-29T21:06:35-05:00December 29, 2009|

Parashat Vayigash

By Rabbi Jill Hammer

Parashat Vayigash, the Torah portion of this week, tells the story of the final reconciliation of Joseph with his brothers. The eleven brothers, including Benjamin, the youngest, are in the throne room of the Egyptian vizier, and the vizier demands of them that Benjamin remain in Egypt as a slave. The brothers are horrified. Judah steps forward, offering himself in place of Benjamin, for he fears the grief that his father will feel if Benjamin does not return. It is this selfless act that inspires Joseph and finally frees him to reveal himself to his brothers. The Egyptian vizier is transformed into the long-lost Joseph, and the family reunites.

This is the same Judah who sold Joseph into Egypt. What has changed? Judah’s moving speech – “let me not see the grief that will find my father!”- shows his newfound empathy. And, there are also hidden clues in Judah’s language. Read More >

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2009-12-23T19:31:46-05:00December 23, 2009|

Parashat Miketz

By Rabbi Eric Hoffman

In preparing for this D’var Torah I read back into the archives of AJR Divrei Torah on the sedra, initially to avoid repeating themes and references already shared on these pages. Instead, I discovered a treasure of thinking that deserved to be repeated, not avoided. Last year, 5769, Hayley Siegel showed how the tortuous encounters between Joseph and his brothers led to the establishment of trust between them based upon the brothers’ confessions of truth. In 5768, Sanford Olshansky demonstrated the development of Joseph’s character in accordance with the theory of Mishnah Avot 5:21 as a factor in his reconciliation with his brothers. In 5767, Irwin Huberman drew lessons of conservation and the redirection of surplus to help the poor in our midst from Joseph’s master plan for Egypt. In 5766, Michael Rothbaum characterized Chanukah as the Rabbis’ rewriting of Maccabean Read More >

By jackielebwohl|2009-12-17T21:08:16-05:00December 17, 2009|

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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